I loved the original Diddy Kong Racing.  I played the darn game until I could
get no more out of it.  Sure, it didn’t have the glitz and glam that Mario
Kart 64 had, but it was an amazing experience that did new things in the
racing genre that are still widely used today.  It’s been multiple years now,
and now my beloved racer is taking another spin on the DS.  The features are
obviously tailored to fit into this new system, but you know, that old
adventure is still there, waiting to be uncovered by all who seek it.  So get
your racing shoes on, we’ve got a long guide ahead of us.  Throughout this
masterpiece (I use that term very lightly, but it has a nice ring to it), I
intend to go over every race, every character, every item, and more.  By the
end of this, you’ll have the know-how required to do everything this game has
to offer.  By the end of this, I’ll have monkeys on the brain.  Want to trade?

Table of Contents
Section One: Game Basics
Section Two: Racing Tips for Tots
Section Three: Items?  Nah
Section Four: Racers Galore.  My Head Hurts…
Section Five: Main Walkthrough
A. Dino Domain
B: Snowflake Mountain
C: Sherbert Island
D: Dragon Forest
E: Final Boss Fun
F: Post Game and Space Pig…when will it ever end…
Section Six: Conclusion
Section Eight: Legal Information

Section One: Game Basics
------------------------

So you probably are opening your game up right now, or just reading this for
the sake of reading it (nosy), but if you are playing it for the first time,
you no doubt are wondering how to move things around and get where you need to
go.  Well, this is the section that’s going to tell you it.  I came up with an
amazingly complex name for it, but it basically means this is the section
where I ramble on about the useless controls for the next five minutes.
Believe me, this bored me more than it does you.  And I’m the one writing it.

Button Controls
A – Gas on your vehicle.  This is the standard button you’ll be holding for
the duration of the game.  If you let go of it, your car stops.  That
sometimes is a good thing, but who knows.

B – Brake on your vehicle.  It basically stops it full swing.  Nothing big,
simple thing that you’ll very rarely use unless you overshoot the track five
hundred times.  You never know.

X – Upgrade button.  The little instruction booklet contained in the game came
up with a great name for it – the power up button.  Ooooooo…this basically
upgrades your current weapon to some super powerful thing of death.

Y – Does this do something?  Nope.

L Button – Your weapon shooter thingy.

R – I have still yet to see what this is for.  Your horn?  Who cares.

Start: Pauses the game.  You should have known that before I had to waste
three words on it.

Select: …

Touch Screen Controls
---------------------

In a sense, the only main uses you’ll be finding for the touch screen include
chucking things.  You’ll use it more in touch screen challenges, but that’ll
be discussed later in its appropriate section.  That, and if I discussed it
here, you wouldn’t have anything to read in that section.  Back to the
chucking.  You’ll mainly be using this feature in very rare instances, but to
make Diddy Kong Racing DS look more touch screen friendly, the developers
decided to make some things interactive, such as the frogs that you can chuck
to unlock Cluck U Chicken (Drumstick).  Some Balloons require you to use this
feature, but that, again, will be discussed later.

Now that the controls are out of the way, let’s go over some of the actual
game basics.  In Diddy Kong Racing DS, your main task is to collect a bunch of
Golden Balloons.  And no, they aren’t to throw some friend a party.  Think of
these things as the game’s main form of completion, such as what stars were to
Super Mario 64.  You’ll get Golden Balloons primarily from completing races in
first place, but there are a couple of other small instances where you can
pick a Golden Balloon or two up for free.  I’ll detail where you can find them
later, so sit on it.

Another big thing that you’ll be collecting are coins.  Coins are one of the
game’s new features, and you’ll be using this currency to purchase a myriad of
things from Taji.  Coins can sometimes be pretty tough to come by, but after
playing the game a couple of times, I found a very easy method how to collect
a whole bunch of coins without much hassle.  First, you have to go to the
game’s first area, Dino Domain.  The first race in the area, Ancient Lake, has
about 20 or so coins littered throughout the track.  If you can manage to get
a good character that can accelerate quickly, you can collect the first five
or so that your opponents would otherwise get.  The race takes approximately
three or so minutes, so in fifteen minutes, you’d have more then a hundred
coins.  You can’t really do this trick in any other of the races, because to
tell you the truth, the coins located on this track are in dead line with
where you’ll be driving, meaning you can get them fairly easily without having
to make many detours.  Rinse and repeat.

Moving on, I’m now going to just take a second to go over the main game
progression, this way you really don’t have any questions as to how this game
works.  You start out in the middle of the world map every time you play the
game.  Going from there, you can go to the area you want and complete its
races.  But wait!  In order to access an area, you first must collect the
Golden Balloon requirements clearly printed on the door.  Once you do, you’ll
be able to enter the area.  Once you’re inside, you’ll be in a hub.  This hub
is your main access point to the game’s races.  In order to get in those
races, though, you’ll need to collect a certain amount of Golden Balloons.
The requirements (surprise!) are once again printed on the door.  After you
beat every race in a given area, you can go whip the boss.  After you whip the
boss (and give him a nice slap, as well), you’ll be able to go and replay the
races in a special Balloon touch challenge.  Those will be discussed later.
After that, you once again face the boss, collect the final prize, and leave
this place for good.  Well, at least until you go for the trophy races.  I
assure you, after that you can leave that place alone for good.  Maybe.

Finally, let me just take a quick second to explain vehicle upgrades.
Upgrades can be purchased from the Taji’s shop, and for the most part, are a
big help in your quest to save the world and turn Wizpig into bacon.  I love
bacon.  I’ll go over much of the meaty stuff later on, but for now, all you
need to know is that these upgrades make you stronger.  Even if they do look
like crow.

Section Two: Racing Tips for Tots
---------------------------------

After reading that big section, you probably want to do one of two things.
Either A, chuck a rock at me, or B, thank me for my hard, glorious work.  I
vote A.  The following section will cover tips that I think will help you in
your quest to beat the game.  This won’t be a long section (by now you
probably hate them with a passion), but it will contain enough information to
get you going before I go and ramble on about the characters for another 2,000
words.  Enjoy your brief respite.

Now, the first thing that I usually do when I start a race is do a simple
practice run.  You’re not doing this to win (although it would be nice), but
to familiarize yourself with the overall course, possibly gain some insight as
to how would be the best way to tackle it.  Scout the items that are
available, learn which curves are where and how you’ll approach them, and find
practically the easiest way to stay ahead without compromising time.  Trust
me, you may not need it now (the AI gives new meaning to the word stupid), but
eventually, when you go to tackle the trophy races, you will.  The AI all the
sudden becomes god-like.  And that ain’t good.

Next, common sense says that if you are having problems with a certain course,
it usually boils down to two, very simple things.  Either you’re screwing up
on certain turns and need to get a bit better, or a new character is needed.
The game doesn’t do anything to penalize you if you choose to switch
characters, so if you need someone who can corner a bit better, choose it for
the race.  If you’re doing long a straightway and can afford to lose a bit of
turning, take a character with a high top speed.  Following this can save you
a big amount of time, and to be quite honest, the less time you’re wasting on
a single race, the more likely you are to finish the game.

Those last two things will help you get past a couple of the early courses,
possibly making up for your stupidity errors until you can get to the place
you need to be.  Now comes the tough part.  Once the game starts getting a bit
harder (and you tackle the darn trophy races), you’ll find that just switching
characters isn’t enough to make up for your errors.  This is where the
following tips really come in handy, because just as they helped me, they can
also help you.  First off, always make sure to drive in a straight line when
you are tackling straight-aways.  Swerving detracts speed, and if it’s an
instance where you can travel in a straight line, it’s really a waste unless
you need to dodge something.  Good instances would be the long curve in Jungle
Falls.  Players can easily just do a small loop without taking much speed off
their speedometers.  Just remember, straight is great.

Secondly, you really, really, really need to learn when it’s a good time to
use an item and when you should stock it.  If you by chance have a missile
sitting in your bay, and know that there will be another coming up, save it
for the power up.  If you have a good shot at someone who’s going to get away
from you, shoot the darn thing and get another.  If there is a boost balloon
sitting alone and you can take a shot and collect it, then collect it for the
speed.

Thirdly, always try to ride the inside edges of the tracks.  Most of the time
you can hit upon a relatively straight pathway if you just practice hitting
the imaginary lines that hit each loop.  For instance, if your are about to
hit a zig-zag in the road, go along the inside track of each zig, staying to
the inside sides.  It’ll save you time, and possibly cut some opponents off in
the process.

Four, learning when to take risks and when not to is a big part of any racing
game.  If you aren’t sure you can hit someone with a missile, save it for when
you have a clear shot.  Common sense says that if you don’t have the novelty
of time, take a risk and hope you make contact.  At the very least, you aren’t
losing anything.  It takes a bit of good judgment and timing to an extent, but
if you can get it down, you won’t have a problem.

Five, it’s obvious that there are three vehicles in the game.  Each has a
different way of boosting at the start of the game, and in order to get a good
head start, I encourage you to make use of it.  I can understand that the car
is a bit hard to get a boost on, but if you do quick, short swipes with the
stylus, it’s easy enough to get the boost up to level three.  The hovercraft
requires blowing, and again, it doesn’t take a huge breath to set it up.  The
plane requires you to swirl the propeller around, and once again, short, quick
swirls will be more then enough.  Don’t waste time on those big lopsided
circles.  All you’re accomplishing is putting streaks in your touch screen.

Six, go red or blue.  Out of every balloon power up in the game, often times
the only two that will really be of any assistance to you are the red and blue
balloons.  Red contains rockets, which can slow people down, while blue
contains boosts, which give you the ability to get its namesake.  The others
are a bit hard to take advantage of, and while green does have its merits, you
really, really should stick to things you can be sure of.

Section Three: Items?  Nah.
---------------------------

Any good racer will tell you that if you want to do well in this game, you’ll
have to take advantage of the items.  To an extent, that is true in the later
stages.  Worrying about using them in the early ones mean you need to go to an
easier game.  I doubt you’ll find one.  The following paragraphs will go over
the items that appear in the game, minus the upgrade ones.  Those I don’t
consider “True” items, but that’s my personal opinion.

Red Balloons: These are your standard ammunition carriers.  Red Balloons
always contain rockets, and they’ll be what you’ll primarily be using to slow
down other racers.  Generally, it’s a safe bet to wait for the second Balloon,
because after that you’ll land the almighty five rockets which can be
spammed.  Horrifically.  I remember the days when I would unlock them for the
battle maps and watch the computers shoot me to kingdom come.  Good times.
Good times…anyway, it’s usually a good idea to play the corners with these
things, because if you can catch someone swerving, they’ll be wide open to
take the hit.  How do you dodge it?  Play the corners.  If you follow my
advice and stick to the inside edges of the track, you’ll go out of view more
quickly.  The less time they have to nail you, the better off you are.  Trust
me.

First Balloon: One rocket.  Shoot it and move on or wait for a power up.
Second Balloon: Five rockets.  Definitely worth waiting for, spamming these
things can put a quick end to any lead other racers have as long as you have a
good shot.  Don’t be afraid to take as many shots as possible, five rockets is
a big payload.
Third Balloon: Homing Rocket.  Three balloons is a rip-off for this thing,
because in my opinion, it’s a complete waste.  Most of the time getting to
three balloons in the first place can be a pretty daunting task, and by the
time you get to the point where you can use it, you would have already passed
several other balloons that could be of assistance to you.  To tell you the
truth, this thing isn’t a sure shot either, so stick to the five rockets and
move on.

Blue Balloons: These are your standard boost balloons.  You’ll not only be
using these often to put distance between yourself and your opponents, but
also to dodge the occasional rocket.  You see, when an opponent fires a
rocket, they won’t be expecting you to jet out from your current position.
Use that to your advantage.  Another thing that most people use these things
for is snaking.  If you use one of these things to snake along bends, you can
easily gain a boost and clear the turn without losing much speed.  That can be
a big help, and it’s required in some of the later stages to get more then a
couple seconds ahead of your current opponents.

First Balloon: Short Boost.  Your standard shoot boost, gives a bit less speed
then a zipper.  I tend to just blow these on the first convenient turn,
because the small upgrades that you get don’t truly stack until its last
stage.  You can save them if you want, and in certain instances, such as races
that stack these balloons, you’ll want to.
Second Balloon: Medium Boost.  Your standard medium boost.  Gives about the
boost you’d get from a zipper, possibly a bit faster depending on the
terrain.  These things can be nice to use, and the longer tenure of them may
make them worth it if you can stack them relatively quickly.
Third Balloon: Long Boost.  Best boost in the game.  If you can stack for this
in a short period of time, do it.  The boost from it will send you flying
along, and you can easily clear turns without losing any speed whatsoever.

Green Balloons: In a sense, these are your trick and trap balloons.  They’re
pretty useless if you need them right away, but if you have time to blow a
lap, they could be your best friend.  You see, I generally consider these
early race balloons.  Use them on your first and second lap, and then proceed
to forget about them.  Your opponent should fly into them at some point,
making them worth it.  I very rarely stack these things, because it’s
basically useless unless you can get them in a very short time.  All of them,
except the last, have practically the same effect.

First Balloon: Oil Slick.  Standard puddle.  Covers a good plot of land when
you use it.  Make sure to throw these down on choke points, because they are
easily seeable and thus avoidable unless you can put them in a really small
area.
Second Balloon: Mine.  Standard blow up shot.  No big difference over level
one.
Third Balloon: Bubble.  This thing is horrifically abuse-able.  It may not
have a big area coverage, but when it does hit an opponent, it will drag them
up and keep them there for extended periods of time.  Quite possibly the most
broken weapon in the game.

Star Balloons: These are your typical gravity balloons.  They pull you into
the nearest racer ahead of you, and because of that, they may or may not be of
use to you depending on the point of the race you’re in.  If you’re in first,
they are really useless.  They don’t do anything special, and I suggest you
always pass them up.  If you are behind, it may be in your best interest to
try and pick one up, although boosts still will serve you better for the
cornering they can provide.

First Balloon: Weak Traction.  Pretty useless.  You have to be decently close
to your opponent for this balloon to work, and it basically puts you right on
top of them.  As you could guess, this opens you up to a rocket.  …
Second Balloon: Medium Traction.  A bit better then level one, still pretty
bad on most accounts.  You can generally get a bit farther away when you use
this one, and it does have a habit of letting you do a sling shot with it.
Third Balloon: This is the only one worth really using, because with it, you
can basically sling shot yourself around your opponent for the quick getaway.
Be warned, there is a split second of time when you’ll lose control with this,
so try to angle yourself so you don’t hit a wall and defeat the purpose of
using this in the first place.  Oh, and never use this on bridges.  Ever.

Rainbow Balloons: Ever wonder why there’s nothing that can protect you from
those evil traps and homing missiles?  Well, there is.  Meet the Rainbow
Balloons.  These babies put up a shield for you, allowing you to run through
traps, be hit by rockets, or heck, even run into other racers – and not face
the penalty from it.  Using these things you can easily blow through hordes of
evil racers who would otherwise beat you up with their rockets, and you may be
saved by this handy little balloon more than once.  Just remember – it does
have a time limit.  More then once I’ve been nailed for overestimating the
amount of time I’d have left from my shield.  It’s cost me more than one race,
and it’ll do the same thing to you, too.  Haste makes waste.  I got that from
a fortune cookie.

First Balloon: Short tenured shield.  It won’t last long, so only use it when
you know you’re going to get nailed.  I generally save these things when I
know they’ll be more in a short radius, because having a level one basically
welcomes a rocket to the face unless you can count seconds.  I have never
managed to get that science down.  And neither will you.
Second Balloon: Medium tenured shield.  Lasts a bit longer then level one, but
not much.  This is the “Safe” shield to ride around in, since once you
activate it you have an amount of time before it finishes.  Still, it’s pretty
unpredictable, so yeah.
Third Balloon: Longest shield available.  You can safely go around in this and
not be fearing it turning off on you.  Still, it’s pretty wise to consider
only using it when you need to, because you can wind up getting nailed if you
misjudge it.  Which will happen.  Trust me.

Now that we’ve covered all of the balloons available (and there were a lot, it
hurt to write this.  Trust me…)I’ll just take a quick second to go over some
of the other items that this game offers to players.  First off, every time
you go to Taj’s tent you can buy different things with coins.  There isn’t
much to say on any of it, and it’s all pretty self explanatory.  Figure it out
yourself, even a monkey could do what it requires.  Next, throughout the
course of the game you can buy certain upgrades for you vehicles.  I don’t
really consider these items, so they’ll be discussed later on once I get
around to writing that section.  With that out of the way, I’m happy to say
this evil section is done.  For now.

Section Four: Racers Galore.  My Head Hurts…
--------------------------------------------

Since this game is about racing, you’ll obviously be having to race under the
vise of an appalling mascot.  Fun.  Diddy Kong Racing DS offers eight
characters at the start, each having their own strengths and weaknesses.
Returning fans of the original will notice that the bear with a banjo and
Conker are missing.  You can blame that on Rare and Nintendo bickering over
legal matters again.  Microsoft, you really hurt me.  This is going to be a
long section, but I guarantee it will be one of the most in-depth characters
guides on the net.

Characters in Diddy Kong Racing DS are judges by three categories, those being
Speed, Turning, and Acceleration.  I’ll be using * to give out what the game
says, and then once I’m done with the pros and cons, plus a final opinion,
I’ll give a score.  Personal opinion, meh.  Characters, as according to the
game, are rated on a basis of five stars.  One being the lowest, five being
the highest.  Not that hard, I think.

Pipsy the Rodent
Speed- *
Turning- *****
Acceleration- *****
Pros: Excellent turning and Acceleration, crow speed.  Pispy is one of those
characters that will work wonderful for beginners.  Why?  Because she can
afford to hit a wall and accelerate back up to top speed within a second or
two.  Her top speed is pathetic, but being able to corner like she does makes
up for it and more considering she can ride the inside of the tracks without
many problems.  I personally picked Pipsy for some of the later stages that
required a bunch of turns, because you don’t get much better than her.

Cons: She’s slow.  On levels with relatively little cornering, she’ll be dead
weight.  Characters like Krunch basically outclass her in everything that she
does when it’s a straight out race.  Good luck winning.  Another problem that
I periodically have with her is surprisingly, her turning.  Due to its high
level, the controls sometimes “Skid”, meaning that you’ll bend around the
track when you try to make too tight of a turn.

Final Opinion: If you are willing to put up with her low top speed and
inability to catch faster racers, Pipsy is a rodent from heaven.  Few other
racers can really touch her on courses that require a bunch of turns, and with
a bit of practice, you’ll often find yourself way ahead of the competition –
even if she is slow.  Score – 3/5

Tiptup the Turtle
Speed- *
Turning- *****
Acceleration- *****
Pros: Tiptup is a male version of Pipsy.  Really.  Their stats are almost
identical, and there are no big features that will separate these two racers.
That being said, I find Tiptup to hydroplane a bit less then Pipsy, mainly
because he tends to have a bit less turning. That actually winds up working
better in the long run being as though you’ll avoid slipping, though, so it’s
not like you’ll be losing too much.  He accelerates just as fast as Pipsy
does, and you’ll often find that he’ll be just a bit faster then here.

Cons: Still has one of the worst top speeds in the game.  That extra speed
over Pipsy isn’t enough to allow him to get away from the inside tracks, as
that’s the main way you’ll be wanting to play him as unless you really feel
comfortable against other racers.  Most people can still outrun him as long as
they don’t crash, and that often leads to your losing unless you can find a
way to stall them.

Final Opinion: Tiptup, much like Pipsy, is one of those characters that has to
be played within the inside parts of the track.  He isn’t fast enough to pull
ahead of people on straightaway parts of the tracks, and that can, and will,
lead to his downfall.  He’s practically a clone of Pipsy minus the horrid
slipping, so feel free to use him if you’re willing to once again put up with
his slow speeds. 3.5/5

Diddy Kong the Chimp
Speed- **
Turning- ***
Acceleration- ***
Pros: Decent acceleration helps him to get ahead early, turning is okay
considering his three star rating.  I find that the best thing you can do with
him is to play the inside corners and hope you can get lucky with balloons; he
really doesn’t have much else going for him.

Cons: Diddy is the mainstay of the game, as the title reflects, and you’d
think that he’d be one of the best racers in it.  Wrong.  Diddy winds up being
one of those average racers that you’d rather forget more than anything else.
His stars kind of are a joke when compared to what he actually is – a decently
slow racer who can’t make as quick of turns as the previously mentioned two
racers.  It’d be one thing if his speed were a bit higher, but it’s not, and
it just doesn’t compensate for his lack of other stats.  I’d really like to
believe that he should have gotten a two star rating in turning, because
you’ll find that unlike some of the other three star turners, he doesn’t have
that key slide.

Final Opinions: I thought they screwed Diddy in this game.  No offense, but if
you’re going to name a game after a certain character, at least make him
average.  They didn’t even do that.  Slow speed and decently bad turning kill
him, leaving other racers to easily mop up his sorry remains.  This character
leaves me with one word: next.  2/5

Dixie Kong the Chimp/Monkey/Whatever
Speed- **
Turning- ***
Acceleration- ***
Pros: Much like Diddy, Dixie winds up being average.  Turning and Acceleration
are passable, while most, if not all, the same strategies used for Diddy apply
for her.  Stick to the corners and try to get ahead of other people by taking
advantage of the abundance of balloons.  Most, if not all, of the Kong
siblings rely on skill rather then raw stats to take them through to the top,
so don’t expect much of her in anything.

Cons: Much like Diddy, Dixie is another one of those generic characters that
fails to do anything special.  Unlike Diddy, Dixie winds up getting a bit
better turning while sacrificing more in raw speed.  The tradeoff helps her a
bit, but still not enough to suffice for everything else.

Final Opinions: Nothing really helps this poor chimp.  I find most of the
Kongs to be utterly useless.  Give me back Conker and Banjo.  To tell you the
truth, even they were bad.  Go figure.  Maybe in the next installment I can
get a certain chicken.  2/5

Tiny Kong the Chimp…I’m running out of convenient names…
Speed- **
Turning- ***
Acceleration- ***
Pros: I’m starting to run out of things to say for these chimps.  Really.  I
think I’ll save the paragraph and say read above to the other monkeys.  They
all are the same, with all of the same abilities, traits, and other crow.  I
find no use for any of them, so feel free to avoid them or run them off cliffs
at your leisure.

Cons: Still cruddy.  Nothing special, complete waste of space.  I would have
been more content if they just left all of the Kongs out.  Sure, they would
have been blasted about not having enough racers, but they’d save themselves
the agony of having to listen to people like myself complaining.  Tiny is a
tiny portion of nothing, still slow, bad turning, and everything else.  I’d
like to put this chimp as a one, but there are worse things ahead.

Final Opinions: Wait, did I just go over my final opinions in the last
paragraph?  I must ramble too much.  Oh well.  Stay away from her, that’s
about all I’ll say.  And eat donuts, they’re good.  2/5

Timber the Cougar/Lion/Ferocious Beast
Speed- ***
Turning- ***
Acceleration- ***
Pros: I think I see a bit of light after having to ramble on about the Kongs
for I don’t know how many words.  Quite simply put, Timber is the best
character in the game.  He rocks from start to finish, has excellent turning,
top speeds, and acceleration.  Doesn’t get bounced around that much from the
heavier racers, can corner with the best of them without hydroplaning at all.
Summery?  You could put all of the Kongs together and they wouldn’t touch this
dude.

Cons: I don’t think there are any, only thing I really have against him is his
inability to truly keep up with the fastest racers in the game, but even that
doesn’t merit much worry considering he makes up for that and more with his
turning.  Just play safely and you won’t have many problems at all.  You can’t
lose with this guy.

Final Opinions: I said it earlier, and I’ll say it again.  Nothing touches
him.  He’s excellent for beginners to the series, great on Wifi, and can
afford to take hits and run into other racers.  Play the corners with him and
watch yourself overlap other racers without much hassle at all.  5/5

Bumper the Badger
Speed- ***
Turning- ***
Acceleration- **
Pros: Has passable turning, not much else worth mentioning.  You could
consider this guy your below average racer who can’t do much at all.  I think
I’ll pass up making Badger jokes for the time being, because it ain’t
groundhog day yet.  Wait…badger…groundhog…oops.

Cons: Just when I think I saw a bit of light, they had to throw me back into
the pit.  I got my hopes up after seeing Timber, and then they go and do
this.  Those stars are complete jokes.  This guy starts off slow and doesn’t
get any faster as the race progresses.  Turning isn’t nearly as good as it
should be, and god forbid you bump into a wall, don’t expect to get back up to
any good speeds within the time that you’d need to keep any lead whatsoever.
Complete waste.  I can’t believed they dumped him down.

Final Opinions: Not as bad as the Kongs, but he still is bad.  Really bad.  I
don’t think he should be used at all if you’re new to the game, and even if
you are an experienced player, you’d better be really careful around those
walls.  One small stop and you’re finished.  Literally.

Krunch the Crocodile/Alligator
Speed- ****
Turning- **
Acceleration- **
Pros: People tend to dislike Krunch due to his bad turning and slow
acceleration.  I love him.  Not only is he the fastest racer in the game, he’s
also one of the hardest to master.  If you can get a hang of him, you’ll
quickly find out that with a bit of practice on turning, you’ll be one of the
best.  Few can touch an excellent Krunch player, and if you can master him,
you’ll be great, too.  As a quick warning – he’s only really meant for
experienced players who can take advantage of the outside corners.  That’s his
greatest strength – being able to ride the outside turns with his bad turning
and still remain ahead due to his speed.  You can risk playing the inside, but
I view it as a big risk due to his bad acceleration and sub-par turning.

Cons: Just like an Alligator/Crocodile in real life, Krunch does a horrific
job when it comes to making solid turns.  It’s practically murder to expect
this guy to ride the inside track and not be smashing into walls.  This is
only magnified by his slow acceleration.  Some people view these two things as
the tandem that destroys this racer.  And to an extent, they do.  If he were
to have a bit higher acceleration, that would possibly cover up, to an extent
at least, the turning.

Final Opinion: He’s the biggest risk racer that you’ll find in the game.  If
you can master him and find a way to play the outside corners with skill, none
can match him.  He very rarely will be passed by someone when going at top
speeds, and as any skilled Krunch player will tell you, that’s when he’s most
dangerous.  A strategy that most people find effective with him is to stock a
boost balloon or two and when he comes to a corner, ride the outside and boost
to get yourself back to the inside parts of the track.  You won’t lose much
speed at all, and you’ll possibly save yourself a lot of heartache. 3/5

Section Five: Main Walkthrough
------------------------------

Well, you’ve finally made it.  It’s been a long road to get up to this point
in the faq, and as the main walkthrough, it’s only about to get longer.  I
have pages upon pages of notes taken from the game, filled with my personal
observations and detailed corner trips.

This portion of the guide will be split up into five sections, detailing each
of the main worlds and finally the final boss race.  In each section I’ll take
each race and do something like this:

Race Name: --
Balloons for Entry: --
Number of Laps --
Number of Competitions: --
TT Amulet: --
Strategy: --

Race name is obviously the name of the race, such as Fossil Canyon or Ancient
Lake.  Balloons for Entry states how many Golden Balloons are needed to enter
the particular race.  The number is printed on the door, but you know.  Number
of laps is easy enough to understand.  Number of competitions indicate how
many times you can enter the race for a Golden Balloon.  In most courses it’s
two, one regular race and one balloon challenge, plus a trophy race for
standings.  TT Amulet will only be included if the stage listed has a piece of
it located inside.  The strategy section will be split up into three, clearly
marked parts.  First Race, Balloon Challenge, and then finally Trophy Race.
Once they are done, I’ll give a short concluding opinion of the track that
will include my closing difficulty score.  Once again, it’ll be on a scale of
1-5.  One being the lowest, five being the highest.  Not that hard, right?

Just to save myself a bit of time later on, I think I’ll take a moment to
explain the Balloon Challenges.  After you beat the area’s boss and and or she
gives you the go-ahead to start the challenges, the races will open again
(they close after you beat them).  When you go to race in them, you’ll be
getting a surprise.  Instead of the usual Silver Coin Challenges from the
first game, you’ll get a gimmicky Golden Balloon Challenge that forces you to
pop balloons with the stylus.  More often than not it’s a hazard, mainly
because you are both popping the balloons and moving the screen around at the
same time with the stylus.  Hopefully the notes I took will be enough to give
you through.  They helped me out a bunch, because knowing where the balloons
are is half the battle.

Finally, after you beat the boss for the second time and gain the Wizpig
amulet piece from that area, a new series of races will open up.  These are
the Trophy Races, and they all must be done at once if you wish to complete
them.  It’s a one after another type of deal, and depending on where you
finish, you’ll gain points.  Have the highest point total and you’ll win.
Beat every one available in the game and you’ll unlock Future Fun Land, a
place that I probably won’t be covering.  Something about saying that this is
for the main game doesn’t stick with many people.  Oh well.

So, you’ve chosen your character and have talked to Taj a bit, now it’s time
for your first race.  Oh boy, prepare for the colossal difficulty of racing an
elephant.

Race Name: Taj Race One
Balloons for Entry: None
Number of Laps: Three
Number of Competitions: Unlimited, although you can only get one balloon from
it.
Strategy:  Good lord, this is probably the simplest race in the game.  You’re
given a car to fool around in, and since Taj moves approximately two miles per
year, you probably won’t be facing any difficulty whatsoever.  Take this
chance to get accustomed to the controls, partially scouting a bunch of the
inside loop of the island.  There’s nothing much really to mention about this,
mainly because as long as you drive in a semi-straight line and follow the
clearly marked path, you won’t have any problems.  I once thought it would be
funny if I let him overlap me and see if I could catch him.  Guess who won.

Final Opinion: Simple, no chance of losing in this.  Get accustomed to the
character you’ve chosen, the game makes you re-enter a race if you fail to
take first place.  And that takes time.  Annoying time.  Difficulty – 1/5

After you’ve whipped the elephant around for a bit, he’ll cough up your first
Golden Balloon.  There really aren’t any other places you can go unless you’re
dead set about getting the little souvenirs located all over the place, but
I’m lazy so I’ll worry about pointing those out later.  Till then, let’s go up
the bridge to the first world, Dino Domain.  It takes only one balloon to
enter.  What do you know.

Section A: Dino Domain
----------------------

Welcome to Dino Domain, land of the easy beginner courses that house big
stuffed animal dinosaurs.  With the exception of Hot Top Volcano, every course
in this area is done with a car.  Hot Top makes you fly through with a plane.
We’ll get to that later, though.  For now, all you need to know is that there
are four races in this area, with Tricky being the overriding boss.  I hope
you enjoy easy land.  Really.

Race Name: Ancient Lake
Balloons for Entry: One/Six for Golden Balloon Challenge
Number of Laps: Three
Number of Competitions: Two, plus a Trophy Race at the end.
TT Amulet: Yes
Strategy: Below

Regular Race: This is the first “True” race in the game.  Most people consider
that Taj one a joke.  This one isn’t really that much harder, but being as
though this is your first race with multiple racers to contend with, you may
or may not be in for a slight culture shock.  Anyway, spin the wheel on the
bottom of the touch screen to get a slight boost, and head straight along the
curve.  After going on for a bit you’ll come up to a group of Blue and Red
Balloons.  These are your first tastes of these babies, so feel free to take
the one that strikes you fancy.  Depending on your character, you may want to
take a Blue Balloon and stock it for a bit.

After driving along the course you should see a zipper.  Take the zipper, but
instead of following the track along the road, take a detour onto the grass
and pick up your second Blue Balloon.  Use it to clear the grass, which should
put you decently ahead of the other racers.  After driving along for about
another four or five seconds you should come up to a rock formation.  Inside
of it should be a Red Balloon on the left, a Blue Balloon in the middle, plus
another Red Balloon on the right.  Outside of the formation is an upgrade
token.  Swerve for it if you like, you can use it with the X button if you
have an item to upgrade it.  Repeat this three times for the victory.

Balloon Challenge: This is still by far and away the easiest course on the
circuit, even in the balloon challenge.  As soon as the course begins, notice
the two balloons on the far right.  You’ll have to do a semi spin with the
stylus to get them, but avoid turning all the way this way you can still come
up in time to pop the others located squarely along the left inside track
space.  Pop some more, and you should eventually come up to a point where the
carpet will drag you right, this is the area where you have swerve right on
the carpet to pop the balloons, and then immediately swerve back to hit the
left ones before they go out of sight.

You should come up to the ridge within a few seconds, that’s your queue to do
a slight turn this way the balloon on the side of the ridge can be obtained
without missing out on the ones located on the far side of the ridge. It can
be a bit annoying, because this all happens incredibly quickly, but after
that, it’s pretty smooth sailing for the rest of the way.  Just hit the ones
in the bay, and you should be done.

Trophy Race: Bah, people are a bit faster now, but nothing that should worry
you at all.  Stick to the corners, shoot anyone who gets in your way, and
proceed to pick up an easy win.  That simple.

Final Opinion: Ancient Lake is one of those races that is too easy to really
lose.  Everything in it is rudimentary at best, and it basically serves to
introduce you to the game.  Don’t forget to pick up the TT Amulet key near the
beginning of the track – it can be obtained by hitting the booster inside the
stone ridge directly in front of the starting line.  Pretty hard to miss,
really.  1/5

Race Name: Fossil Canyon
Balloons for Entry: Two/Seven for Golden Balloon Challenge
Number of Laps: Three
Number of Competitions: Two, plus a Trophy Race at the end.
Strategy: Below

Regular Race: Fossil Canyon is your second real race, and because of that,
will also be one of the easiest to play.  This will be the first race to see
the use of both Rainbow and Star Balloons, so keep a sharp eye for them as you
go throughout the track.  Neither will really give you any help, as this is
still a bit early to rely on them, but it’s a cool little thing to experiment
with.  Now, as soon as the race starts you’ll want to take a slight curve for
the inside track.  You’ll notice that it’s the far side when you’re done, but
if you notice, there’s a small zipper located along the far side of the
ridge.  When you hit it, make sure to take it at an angle this way you can
clear the other racers without hitting any.  If you’re playing a character
with low acceleration, it could be race finishing.  If not, hitting that
zipper with a character like Krunch will be a real help to get up to full
speeds quickly.

There’s a green balloon located directly ahead, and if took the zipper in the
way I described, you should be in perfect position to pick it up without
having to swerve much at all.  Make sure to deploy it immediately, and keep
heading straight.  Take the curve, and head directly ahead towards the lake.
And no, I’m not going to make you jump off into it.  Wait…okay, be sure to
jump off into it.  While you’re getting dry, notice the zipper right outside
of it that can be taken to clear it and cut away that whole ledge of race
track.  And you’re wet right now.  You should have stopped and listened to
me.  Enter the temple and pick up the red balloon on the left.  Stock it, and
keep going for another one soon after.  If anyone is in front of you, unload
on them.

When the track splits, be sure to take the left side.  It only contains a red
balloon, but it’s much shorter in comparison and will put you far ahead of the
other racers.  The finish line isn’t much farther ahead, so keep going on and
this race is finished after three laps.

Balloon Challenge: Much like the last Balloon Challenge, this one has the
potential to either be really easy or really hard.  I hope you make it easy.
Right from the start just pop the ones that are on the far left and right
sides, hitting these things at an angle ensure that you don’t have to swing
backwards for it and potentially screw your race.  The carpet tends to swing
around several times in this track, so be sure to get yourself in a semi-left
centered view this way you can nail them without many problems at all.  The
rest is pretty simple, just stick to the inside edges.  That’s where they
stuck them.

Trophy Race: Still simple.  As before, racers are a bit faster now, but as
long as you stay to the insides of the track, no problems should come about.

Final Opinion: Being the second true race in the game, Fossil Canyon is still
very simple.  Just be sure to ride the insides and you won’t have any problems
at all.  I wound up lapping some of the last place racers by the time I was
done. 1/5

Race Name: Fossil Canyon
Balloons for Entry: Two/Seven for Golden Balloon Challenge
Number of Laps: Three
Number of Competitions: Two, plus a Trophy Race at the end.
Strategy: Below

Regular Race: Jungle Falls is your first true test of cornering.  Why do I say
that?  Because it requires you on the first twist to make a turn that will
either screw you up or allow you to get pretty far ahead of the competition.
The race in itself is pretty simple, the track is only about 30 or so seconds
long, so no problems should really come into play unless you run yourself off
the bridge, at which point you really need to work on your driving skills.

Starting off, make sure to position yourself along the inside ridge of the
track.  It ends up being the outside of the track when you really look at it,
but there’s a zipper located along the outside ridge that when played right
will put your far ahead of the other racers, much like last race.  You do not
want to be bunched in with the other racers at the bridge, because that will
lead to you getting shoved off if you aren’t careful, which could be race
finishing.  Before the bridge you’ll have an opportunity to pick up either a
Red Balloon on the left or Green Balloon on the right.  If you’re behind, take
the Red one to shoot a rocket out to get someone out of your way.  If you’re
in first, just take the green one and slow people down.  The temple is another
tight place, so make sure to either be ahead or lag for a bit this way you
don’t crash into someone.  Coming out of the temple you’ll see a zipper, make
sure to hit it and either grab the Star Balloon on your left or dodge it for
the next part.

Once you head down the hill, make sue to head for the dinosaur’s skull.  There
is a zipper inside that will take you along the straightway inside, and
barring that you don’t ram into something, the finish line is right ahead.
Repeat three times and you’re the winner.

Balloon Challenge: Fossil Canyon tested your ability to swing the carpet
around, Jungle Falls will test your perceptiveness.  Most of the balloons are
in hard to see places, and that can and will lead to many blown opportunities
to score the balloons necessary for gold.  Your margin of error is very slim,
so take a practice run or two if you have to in order to clear the race.

Starting off, notice the two balloons on top.  Pop them immediately and swing
left for the balloons along the crevice.  Make sure to pop the others as you
swing around this way you don’t miss out.  If you do, restart.  After clearing
the initial spurt of balloons at the beginning, pop as many as you can see in
the next area before you enter.  There are some in the lake, as well as some
on top of you.  Make sure to pop the ones on top of the temple, as well as
hitting the one inside.  It’s a dead shot, but be careful not to hit the coin
that’s in front of it instead.  As you leave the temple immediately pop the
balloon on the bottom of you.  It’s extremely easy to miss, and you have about
a second or so to hit it before you’d have to turn around for it.  As soon as
you can pull up, make sure to hit the balloons on the stone structure on your
left, then immediately hit the ones on your right before you have to swing
around for them.  As you go back, the rest are in pretty plain sight – just be
careful of the ones hidden in the last couple of bones.

Trophy Race: Still simple.  Stomp ‘em like you have in the last two races.
Just be sure to be careful of the bridge, for some reason the racers love to
push you off if they have the opportunity.

Final Opinion: Jungle Falls could be considered you first medium easy race.
Some parts of it can be a bit challenging if you aren’t careful, so remember
to take your time and work around the little errors you make.  It’s imperative
to hit that first zipper at an angle this way you can be in position to hit
the other one without having to swerve, so be sure to take your time and be
careful of your surroundings.  2/5

Interlude
---------

So you’ve managed to clear the first three races, now you’re in a bit of a
dilemma.  The next place, Hot Top Volcano, requires you to have five Golden
Balloons.  You have three.  Where will you get that last balloon?  Well, you
could always leave Dino Domain in search of other areas, or you could go five
inches from the exiting point after leaving and talk to that fat elephant who
pops up in front of you.  It seems that he wants to challenge you to another
race, this time making you race him in your airplane.  And what do you know…
that’s what you’ll be using in Hot Top Volcano.  Lame excuse for random
tutorial.  We need that balloon though…guess we have to take on the elephant.

Race Name: Fat Elephant…er…Taj Race Two
Balloons for Entry: Technically, four.
Number of Laps: Three
Number of Competitions: Unlimited, although you can only get a Golden Balloon
from him once.
Strategy: This is your first technical race in an air plane unless you managed
to be smart and take on the next area before time, but you know how that
goes.  At any rate, this is basically another one of those can’t lose races,
because just like last time, Taj shows his inkling to want to sit there and do
nothing.  Truly.  Just follow the conveniently placed race markers around the
island and you’ll be fine.  As you’re going by, take note of the other racing
locals you’ll be visiting soon.  Dino Domain is practically almost done (well,
for me at least, at this point you’d still have to do the Balloon Races).
Whatever.  After you once again tan this elephant he’ll cough up another
Golden Balloon.  And what do you know, now it’s time to go to Hot Top
Volcano.  Fun.

Race Name: Hot Top Volcano
Balloons for Entry: Five/Ten for Golden Balloon Challenge
Number of Laps: Three
Number of Competitions: Two, plus a Trophy Race at the end.
Strategy: Below

Regular Race: This is your first true plane race, because like last time, no
one in his or her right mind would count Taj’s challenge as a serious race.
Bah.  Anyway, this is probably the only challenging course in Dino Domain, so
beware.  Wait, is this even challenging?

Right when you start you’re greeted by a fork in the road.  The left side
leads to two red on the bottom left and two blue on the bottom right.  The
right side, which is unfortunately longer, leads to a power up coin.  Take the </pre><pre id="faqspan-2">
left side this lap, come back for that coin on another lap when things are a
bit less crowded.  In the cave, make sure to take the right side.  The left
side only gives you a coin, while the right will net you a Blue Balloon.  You
see the obvious benefits from that.  You’ll come to a semi-short track area
which will lead to a small indentation of rock.  You can either choose to take
the outside path or cut some time with the inside one.  The outside will get
you a red balloon, while the inside won’t cough up anything.  Just take the
right, that extra time off can be infinitely helpful in your quest to separate
yourself from the track.  Go longer on and you’ll come to a hill that bends
up.  In the middle you’ll find a power up token, on the right a Blue Balloon,
with the left netting you a Red.  Grab the Upgrade Token, swerve left for a
zipper in the sky, and point downwards slightly for a Blue Balloon.

Keep heading out until you come up to a suspended ledge in the air.  See a Red
and Blue Balloon grouping nearby.  Keep going and you should come up to a Dino
walking along the path.  You can shoot it with a rocket, but it ain’t doing to
do you any good to do so.  You’ll get a chance to shoot a prince soon enough.
You should see a zipper in the air when you dodge the Dino.  Make sure to hit
it on an angle this way it allows you to position yourself, point towards the
Blue Balloon, use it, point yourself towards the top left, and shoot for the
finish line.  Not that hard, right?  Repeat it three times.

Golden Balloon Challenge: This is probably one of the first races that you’ll
be pressed to get balloons.  To put it lightly, they’re tough to get.
Extremely tough.  The carpet will swerve right after the initial impass – make
sure to pop the balloons on the left to avoid screwing up and having to swerve
backwards.  That can make you miss the balloons located in the cave, so
restart if you mess up.  As you leave, make sure to notice the balloons
located on the ledges, plus the ones on the insides of the caves.  Probably
the toughest part to get all the balloons will come in on the part where the
Dino makes his appearance.  He can be blocking them, and you’ll have to do a
semi-swing to avoid missing them and having to start over.  The rest are
pretty easy to get, just be sure to hit the last one on top of the cave.

Trophy Race: This can definitely be a patience trying race unless you get
incredibly lucky with the turns, because for once, the AI is smart enough to
grab balloons and shoot you to kingdom come.  Be careful with the Dino Area, a
simple swerve could mess you up big time if you’ve got a racer or two up your
butt.  Luck be with you.

Final Opinions: Hot Top Volcano is probably the first semi-difficult race in
the game.  There are enough turns, curves, and racing spots to put you out of
commission quickly, and couple that with a semi-competent AI, and you might be
in for some problems.  The Trophy Race can be a bit hard for this track, but
as long as you play smart and stay to the corners, you shouldn’t be in too
much trouble.  3/5

Interlude
---------

I technically don’t have to go over this for another race or so, but as long
as I’m right before the boss, I might as well slip this in to save time.  What
could it possibly be?  Whipping boy is back.  Only this time, he won’t be
whipped so easily.

Race Name: Taj Race Four
Balloons for Entry: --
Number of Laps: Three
Number of Competitions: Unlimited, although the Golden Balloon can only be
collected once.
Strategy: Okay, I lied.  Taj is still a joke.  The only reason why this race
may be a remote challenge to you is if the hovercraft controls screw you
over.  And they may just do that.  The hovercraft in this game is incredibly
hard to keep on a solid course, and turning with this thing can be absolute
torture unless you plan to make the turn several seconds ahead of time, which
makes you lose speed.  Just great.  To think that we’ll have to single-
handedly deal with several courses starring this vehicle.  Fun.  Anyway, Taj
still doesn’t move at any speeds that will overly challenge you, and if you’ve
managed to take down most of the races in Dino Domain, this won’t really pose
that much of a threat to you.

Final Opinions: Joke.  Taj races, in general, are a joke.  I wish I could make
jokes in real life, but alas, they elude me. 2/5


Boss Time
---------

Race Name: Boss Race One
Balloons for Entry: Complete All Main Races in Dino Domain/Complete All Golden
Balloon Races in Dino Domain
Number of Laps: One
Number of Competitions: Two/plus a special touch challenge at the end.
Strategy: Below

Race One: Well, this is it.  Our first Boss Race.  By now you’re probably
itching for a challenge, and to an extent, you may get one.  Tricky is a
competent racer who can easily pull ahead of you if you aren’t careful, and if
by any chance you manage to get under his feet, he’ll flatten you like a
pancake and force you to drive slowly until you can un-flatten yourself.  The
track is a bit different from the N64 version in the fact that the cheap
course passing cave is no longer there, forcing you to run a fair race.  This
might have scared some people, but unlike last time, there’s a little trick
that can put you ahead of Tricky and keep you there for the duration of the
race.  See the little Red Balloon located ahead of you?  Well, let Trick
sprint ahead of you.  That’s right, don’t do a boost.  If you did it right,
you should pick up the balloon the second he starts making a turn.  He won’t
be far ahead of you, and to tell you the truth, you could probably pass him up
if you stuck to the inside, but why waste a perfectly good chance to put a
rocket up his hide when he’s going to run right in front of you?  Well, after
you’ve landed one and he gets stopped, simply charge ahead of him, grab the
Blue Balloon located a bit later in the track, use it, and start up the hill.
You have to stay on the inside track here, because if you go to the outside
you risk him catching up to you.  Just be careful of the trees, grab Blue
Balloons as needed, and you should be fine.  Nothing really presents much of a
challenge if you play smart.

Race Two:  Tricky’s back…and he still is as dumb as ever.  He’s a bit faster
now, but the same strategy used before can still work perfectly.  He’ll just
be closer to you, and if you aren’t smart enough to take the inside track,
you’ll probably be flattened.  Luck be with you, it ain’t really that hard.

Race Three:  This really isn’t a “Race” per se, but it is a touch challenge
that will net you 100 coins if you can complete it.  This race forces you to
direct you racer with the stylus, while at the same time making you drive your
racer along by swiping at the wheel located at the bottom.  It can be
annoying, but as long as you direct your racer properly, you shouldn’t have
many problems.  Heck, they basically made Tricky sit there for you.  That’s
right, he moves just about as fast as Taj.  Well…maybe a bit faster.  You get
the point, though.  I hope.

Interlude
---------

Well, you’ve finally beaten everything Dino Domain has to offer.  It’s been a
long ride, but thankfully you can call that shiny piece of the Wizpig amulet
your own.  Three more to go.  You have a couple of options as to where you
want to trek off to, but for the sake of this being a guide that doesn’t force
you to go in fifty thousand different directions, we’ll be heading off to
Snowflake Mountain.  The number of Golden Balloons needed for entrance is a
paltry two, but with your completion of Dino Domain, you should have about 13-
15.  Not bad, eh?  Anyway, Snowflake Mountain can be reached by taking the
airplane up that snowy log on located in the central hub and racing along to
the door.  Well, better get a jacket on.  It’s going to be a cold…well, ride.
Whatever.

Section B: Snowflake Mountain
-----------------------------

Snowflake Mountain will feature some tough races, but there’s no need to panic
too much.  You’ll wind up spending a race riding in a plane, but the rest are
in the car.  The exception is the boss race, which will feature you riding
around in that blasted hovercraft.  …  Anyway, I’d like to say that you should
spend anywhere between a half hour to an hour clearing this place, while I’ll
spend about three writing everything up.  Fun.  Well, for you at least.  I’m
just the faq boy.

Race Name: Everfrost Peak
Balloons for Entry: Two/Ten for Golden Balloon Challenge
Number of Laps: Three
Number of Competitions: Two, plus a Trophy Race at the end.
Strategy: Below

Regular Race: Ah, the fresh alpine sent is in the air.  This race is notably
played in a plane, and unlike your last outing in a volcano, this one will be
a bit chillier.  Anyway, you’ll find this place to be a bit easier then Hot
Top, mainly because A, it’s a beginner course (they’ll all be easy barring any
hovercraft problems), and B, the plane is most notably one of the easiest
vehicles to control in the game.  So if you lose, well, you don’t have my
sympathy.  Maybe.  It depends on how bad you lose.

First off, I want to say that this is the first race we’re you’ll start to see
other racers using upgrades.  Not to point anyone out, but Dixie is the prime
candidate for it in Snowflake Mountain.  Because of that, you’ll find her
often up your butt.  She’s faster then you unless your Krunch, at which point
she’s much more maneuverable.  How do you win?  Nail her with rockets early,
plus hit the zippers.  Anyway, starting of you’ll want to take the inside
track for a Blue Balloon, and while it may be a bit hard for you to work with
at first, you’ll find yourself in prime position to hit the zipper straight
ahead on the ground.

Once you’ve managed to pull yourself up, notice the Red and Blue Balloons on
the side of you.  Take the Blue one, because we don’t need the Red one at the
moment.  If you haven’t used your other Blue one yet, you should have two.
Take the inside track of the next turn, and you should see an upgrade coin.
Get it now, because most likely it will be long gone by your next lap.
Another can be found under the ridge a bit ahead of you, but that shouldn’t be
necessary to grab at the moment because the AI never makes the other players
grab it early.  After clearing the ridge, fly past the two Red Balloons and
grab the Blue Balloons on the outer corners.  Use your triple boost to propel
you into the cave, aiming for the ground.  Unless you have the boost, it’ll
cost you a bunch of time to hit the next zipper on the ground.  Once you do,
pull up to hit the zipper in the sky, then descend again for another on the
ground.

As you approach the split in the track, note that if you want a Red Balloon,
you’ll have to take the left.  Right will net you a Blue Balloon, and is the
suggested path that you take.  As you approach the ledge make sure to pull
down for a zipper, and that should be it for this track.  There are one or two
more Balloons scattered about, but nothing that groundbreaking.  Complete
three times for the win.

Balloon Challenge: This place is absolutely evil when it comes to hiding
Balloons from you, because as you’ll soon see, there are more then enough of
them hidden in the mountains out of your plain view.  How do you get around
this?  Keep your camera tilted in a way that allows it to take a full 360 when
necessary.  If you need to point up, point up.  If you need to point down,
point down.  Watch out for the Balloons hidden behind the trees, because they
are extremely easy to miss if you don’t pay much attention to them, and that
can be a real problem.

Trophy Race: Most of the animals now have little toys attached to their
vehicles, making this a slight nightmare unless you do what I always tell you
to do and that’s sticking to the inside corners.  Trust me, it will save you
much heartache to simply stick to that formula.  Nothing will be able to touch
you, and as long as you play smart and hit the zippers, you’ll be fine.  The
AI in this game is still dumb, even with enhancements.  And that’s when you
really have to think about why they did what they did to it.

Final Opinions: Everfrost Peak is a decently fun stage that manages to get
what it needs to get done easily enough.  It’s still not that hard, but it’s a
nice little jump from what you’re used to from Dino Domain.  Is there more to
come?  Trust me, there’s more.  Although I don’t know how much good it’s gonna
do you to wait. 2/5

Race Name: Walrus Cove
Balloons for Entry: Three/Eleven for Golden Balloon Challenge
Number of Laps: Three
Number of Competitions: Two, plus a Trophy Race at the end.
Strategy: Below

Regular Race: Surprisingly, this is one of my favorite courses in the game.  I
don’t know why, I think it’s partially because of the music.  And that big
loop.  And the bouncing chickens.  Wait…wrong game.  Scrap that last
paragraph.  My bad…well…moving along…all right, I have chickens on the brain.
That and I’ve been writing now for more hours then I care to mention.  Social
life…Diddy Kong Racing…I can’t decide…darn it.

Anyway, starting the race you’ll want to head along the inside curve.  You’ll
see a mild grouping of balloons coming up.  Blue are on outside, Star on the
inside.  Take a Blue Balloon, and approach the gigantic loop from the left
side.  You’ll want to come off of it taking a slight curve, because if you
don’t, you’ll most likely miss the zipper located along the back right side
just out of your view?  You’re probably happy that I told you that.  You
should come out of the cave within a second or two, at which point you’ll be
up to a strip of track.

There’s a zipper located on your right, followed by another one on your left.
It’s farther down the strip, so make sure to swerve slightly for it when you
boost.  Take the last one on your right, approach the curve and take the
outside track on your left.  You’ll basically walk into an upgrade token,
which will then set you up for a zipper.  There’s a Red Balloon located on the
hill once you hit to the zags.  Make sure to play along the corners, and it’s
easy to get a rocket up your hide in here if you aren’t careful.

After you come out of that turn, make sure to be careful of the ice.  If you
touch it, you’ll bounce and lose all of your speed.  Most cars can jump the
cracks pretty easy.  Once you pass that area, take the left side once you hit
the area where the track splits for a Rainbow Balloon and a zipper.  This is a
much shorter route.  Repeat three times for the victory, not that it really
matters that much.

Balloon Challenge: Fun.  That’s the one word that I could think up for this
challenge.  Well, if annoying Golden Balloon popping and screen swiping are in
your definition of fun.  Darn it.  Anyway, there are balloons located along
most of the outer cracks and edges, and if you aren’t careful, you’ll probably
miss the lot of them.  Make sure to keep your camera in a tilted position at
all times, because you’ll want to be able to do the wide turns that are
necessary to grab the balloons evilly hidden behind the trees.  I wound up
having to do this several times to get it into my head where the last balloon
was.  Don’t make my mistakes.

Trophy Races: Ah, Dixie’s the worst problem this track has to offer,
everything else isn’t much of a problem.  Just stay to the inside parts of the
track, hit the zippers, and you’ll be fine.  If you’re smart, you’ll grab the
Blue Balloons and boost along the crack to prevent your bouncing.  It’s tough
to come back from a screw up like that.

Final Opinions: Still not that hard, but you can tell the game is starting to
heat up.  If you’re having problems here, it’s either because you’re not
taking the corners or you’re messing up on the ice.  Everything else isn’t
that bad, and with a bit of luck, you should be able to ace this place in
little time at all.  2/5

Race Name: Snowball Valley
Balloons for Entry: Six/Fourteen for Golden Balloon Challenge
Number of Laps: Three
Number of Competitions: Two, plus a Trophy Race at the end.
Strategy: Below

Regular Race: Besides the fact that you’d most likely have to finish most of
Dino Domain if you haven’t already to access this place, Snowball Valley is a
decently fun course.  It features a bevy of turns, tricks, and traps to throw
you off and allow the other racers to get by you.  At the end waits a perilous
stretch where only the most foolhardy will tread.  Wait…scratch that last
point.

Starting off the race is a small strip of regular track that will lead up to a
junction.  Do yourself a favor and take the right side in the first lap.  It
may be a longer alternative to the left side, which you will be forced to take
in later laps, but it contains an Upgrade Token near the jump after you’ve
maneuvered around the turns.  There are Red and Green Balloons near the
entrance to the right junction.  Anyway, after you’ve collected the token and
taken the right turn, you’ll be in the air for a bit.  That’s right, it’s a
jump.  Make sure to point downwards on your DS Pad this way you don’t hang in
the air for too long – the opponents have a nasty habit of getting down there
pretty quickly.

After you’ve fallen down you’ll be on a slight curve along the track.  Take
the right inside track, which has a zipper kindly located right along its
base.  The developers seem to reward good racing.  You have an option when you
get up to pick up either a Blue Balloon or a Shield Balloon.  It’d usually
make sense for you to go for the Blue Balloon, simply because if you have been
following my advice and have been stocking them, you should be in fine
position to go and blast through the open plain with minimal problems.  Which
brings us to the next portion of the track.  You generally won’t be in this
part long if you’ve gotten three Blue Balloons, but if you’re cruising by with
a shield, you can pick up more Blue Balloons and an upgrade token on your
right.  Just be careful – there are snowball rolling around ready to crush you.

After you’ve entered the giant igloo, make sure to pick up either a Red
Balloon on your outside or a Blue Balloon on the inside. Doesn’t really matter
either way.  After that it’s a simple blast to the finish line.

Balloon Challenge: From this point on I don’t intend to go heavily in-depth on
the Balloon Challenges, mainly because by the time you’ve gotten to this
point, you’ve been given a heavy course analysis.  I will be going over
highlights, so keep sharp. Anyway, this place, in all senses of the word, is a
literal heck.  Balloons are all over the place, there are several areas where
they are easily miss-able, and to make matters worse, a couple of them require
you to make split second turns that are easily botched.  How do you get past
it?  Center your camera on an angle.  Most of the balloons follow a pattern
that is easily seeable apart from some of the later ones, and if you are
perceptive of your environment, you won’t have many problems.  This place can
be a heck – if you make it one.

Anyway, starting off make sure to hit the Balloons that are placed on the
impasse in front of you.  There are some on the left, and a bunch of the
right.  Make sure to hit the ones on the left as soon as possible, because
spinning to the right to catch the others can be a pain in the butt.  There
are a few more scattered on the next corner straight, none that are not that
hard to pop, however.  After you make the jump, make sure to hit the ones that
are around the trees.  The carpet make a kind of zag, so you’re given a good
amount of time.  After you make it out of the house, be sure to turn around.
There are some scattered on the roof, and they can screw you over.  Otherwise,
everything else is in plain sight, just a bit hard to hit.

Trophy Race: Characters are faster, hit harder, and can make your life
miserable if you wind up screwing up in the impasse.  Make sure to hit the
zippers, and take the left route at the beginning to give you a good lead.
Remember, triple Blue Balloon will get you through.

Final Opinions: Snowball Valley is yet another one of those courses that can
be annoying if you don’t bother to follow simple guidelines.  If you do follow
them, you won’t have a problem.  Racers are starting to upgrade, so now’s a
good time to start looking into buying them yourself.  Focus mainly on what
your character is lacking, and if you’re not attached to anything in
particular, go with speed.  The faster you are, the better. 2.5/5

Race Name: Frosty Village
Balloons for Entry: Nine/16 for Golden Balloon Challenge
Number of Laps: Three
Number of Competitions: Two, plus a Trophy Race at the end.
Strategy: Below

Regular Race: Please make a mental note to finish Dino Domain before coming
here.  If you’ve been following my guide, you should have already.  If not,
well, you won’t be able to get in here.  See, that’s why you should follow my
guide.  Duh.  Frosty Village is a decently challenging course for a world
ender, and I suggest that you really work on your cornering here.  This is a
great place to work on it, because many of the turns located within have that
zing that you’ll be facing soon enough (we still have a world before you have
to worry.  Let me take that back, you have one world where turning is nearly
impossible, then we get back to the car).

So as soon as you get that beautiful start signal of go, boost off and head
for the first turn.  You’ll want to take the outside portion to line yourself
up for the zipper located squarely in the middle of the tunnel exit, because
trust me, if you don’t, you’ll have a tough time hitting it.  Just a note – at
the entrance of the cave you’ll be able to pick up a Blue Balloon.  Save it
for the time being, because you’ll want the double boost coming off of the
zipper.  After you do hit the zipper you’ll be greeted by a fairly large
outside area.  I know you may be tempted to go straight for the Balloons, but
please just take the inside portion of the land formation and head for the
cave.  There’s an upgrade token located inside after you go on for a bit, plus
a zipper on your left if you swerve a bit.  This is the ideal place to
practice your cornering.

After you’ve finished the cave you’ll be greeted by a set of Balloons.  Take a
green one, immediately lay it down, and take an immediate right.  Why right?
The track may look straight, but if you take the right turn off track you’ll
be on a short cut that will allow you to cut off much of the track.  There are
several zippers in that straight pathway, plus a Star Balloon to get you back
on the track if anyone is in front of you.  Head into the tunnel to meet a
zipper.  It’s a short tunnel, so you’ll see the zipper almost instantly after
you leave.  There’s an upgrade token on your left.  After you’ve cleared the
next short cave, it’s a simple gallop to the finish line.  Just make sure to
hit the zipper on your right – it’s easy to miss.

Golden Balloon Challenge: More balloon fun.  This is the final Golden Balloon
Challenge of this world, and if you’ve been keeping pace with this guide, your
next track in line (I cover races together on a particular track, but if
you’re going by Golden Balloon Challenges, all races are in order.  So say we
started off with Everfrost Peak.  It would then be Walrus Cove and in the
order I did it).  Anyway, this track isn’t particularly hard for a final
track, just a bit annoying if you lose your bearings early.  There are a
couple of Golden Balloons from the get-go that you’ll have to hit, plus some
scattered in the arch of the cave.  As you leave and start that big valley,
notice the Balloons in that giant bridge, plus the few that are scattered in
the housing area.  They aren’t that hard to hit, and you should be able to get
yourself ready for the cave in more then enough time.  After you’ve entered
the cave, make sure to hit the Balloons as quickly as possible.  For some
reason or another the carpet speeds up when you enter it, and it can be tough
to hit everything if you go on lollygagging.  I know some of you do, but
that’s a different story.

After you’ve left and entered that long straight of track, you’ll notice that
the carpet swerves around several times before finishing up and heading into
the next area.  That’s your queue  to be smart and look around for any
balloons scattered around hidden.  You’ll have a decent amount of time to do
so, just be sure to look around in the trees for any that are placed behind
them, plus some behind the light poles.  There are a few scattered near the
cave.  When the carpet’s done zagging around, it’ll take the shortcut that was
described earlier.  It’s not that hard to see, and you should really have that
hard of a time hitting it.  Just make sure to pay attention since the carpet
has a bad habit of speeding up when you least expect it.  When you’re finished
with the area you’ll be introduced with the final portion of the track.  The
balloons are in plain sight, just make sure to hit the ones in that final cave.

Trophy Race: Characters now have upgrades, you’d be wise to take the corners
whenever possible.  Hitting the zippers is a literal must, because of you
don’t, you’ll find the extra speed that the other characters have gained may
be a bit too much for you to handle.  Remember, take the shortcut once you
reach that long stretch of track.  It cuts off a huge portion, which is about
5-6 seconds.

Final Opinions: Things are getting harder.  As a final race in a world, you’d
expect this race to test what you’ve learned and how you’ve grown from it.
Frosty Village does and more while holding true to that learning curve that
makes this game easy.  I still think that you shouldn’t have any immense
problems with this, mainly because you still are racing in the car, while
zippers are abundant enough to give you a good lead. 2.75/5

Boss Race
---------

Well, you’ve finally managed to take down the races in Snowflake Mountain, now
it’s time to test you meddle against someone who will make your life
miserable.  Normally, this race wouldn’t be that big of a challenge.  It’s a
pretty straightforward track, no big turns, no tough obstacles to cross.  But
there is a catch.  Instead of doing this in a car or plane, you’ll have to
race in the hovercraft.  This thing controls like a drunk, and maneuvering
around the caves and other obstacles that normally wouldn’t be a problem
become annoying at best.  Unlike other bosses, Mr. Walrus doesn’t be a cheat
and race out ahead of you, but he’ll catch you quickly enough and probably
keep the lead for the duration of the race unless you can get incredibly lucky
at some point.  If you’re behind, I wouldn’t worry too much.  The final
portion of the track is a downward slope that allows you to speed up a bit,
and that’s the main time when you’ll be able to close the gap.

Race Name: Walrus Boss
Balloons for Entry: Complete Regular Races/Complete Golden Balloon Challenge
Races
Number of Laps: One
Number of Competitions: Two, plus a special touch challenge at the end.
Strategy: Below

First Race: Well, make sure to blow on your DS to get that nice boost at the
beginning.  Without it, he’ll catch you before you hit the tunnel – or most
likely overtake you in it and flatten you, which is even worse.  Make sure to
swerve right for the Blue Balloon, and don’t use it until you actually are in
the tunnel.  To make turning a bit easier, it may be in your best interest to
ride your breaks, because if you do do that that hovercraft will be a bit less
skittish and easier to control on your part.  Anyway, once you enter the cave
it will go on for a while.  Make sure to use your boost once you manage to get
in on that slope, because it will allow you to clear the cave faster and
hopefully keep your lead on the Walrus.

Moving on…you’d think that a Walrus would be slow.  Anyway, grab the Blue
Balloon from the end of the cave and stock it.  You’ll want to use it on the
final clearance, this way you don’t have to swerve to get the other one.
Anyway, you should still have a slight lead on the Walrus, and if you manage
to keep it throughout the next part where snowballs are coming down to crush
you, you’ll be in a good position to pick up the next cave.  There’s nothing
really of note in the cave, just take it to the final part.  There’s a huge
downward slope, and if you followed my advice earlier and focused on keeping
your Blue Balloon, use it and press down on the control pad to shoot down the
slope and take the win.  If he’s ahead of you, you should be able to catch him
as long as he’s within a couple of yards.

Second Race: He’s faster now…plus a bit smarter.  The course is identical, and
he basically does everything like he did last time.  Just use a similar
strategy and you should be fine.  It’s important to get the third level of
boost in the beginning when you blow on your DS, because the extra yardage is
really helpful to maintain a good lead.

Coin Race: Bah, another one of those stupid stylus challenges.  This one is
notably easier then the one in Dino Domain, mainly because Walrus boy finally
goes the speed he should be going for his species.  Hit everything that gets
in your way and take it easy for the win.  This should be cake after going
through everything else.

Final Opinions: Can you say hard?  This race will always come down to how good
you can corner in the tunnels, because if you wind up taking a long time going
through them, he’ll easily take the lead and make your life miserable.  You
should be able to win this within a try or two, but as I said at the beginning
of this guide, take a race to scout the track and practice cornering in the
tunnels. 3.5/5

Interlude
---------

Well, you’ve officially conquered Snowflake Mountain.  Collect your second
piece of the Wizpig amulet and move on to your next destination.  At this
point it’s strongly recommended that you tackle Sherbert Island first, as
although it is much harder then Dragon Forest, it’s notably shorter and
contains a boss that is tough to get by.  Believe me, you don’t want to start
Dragon Forest and find out that you’re stalled on this place.  Trust me.  If
you’ve been going by my guide, you should have the Golden Balloons to do
anything, but if I know DKR players in general, they’re wayyyyyyy to impatient
to wait for me.

Section C: Sherbert Island
--------------------------

For one reason or another, I tend to dislike this place.  Sure, it probably
has some of the best level design in the game, excellent music, a good set of
difficulty.  But there’s just something that sticks in my head like a tuna
fish sandwich gone wrong.  It’s on the tip of my tongue…Oh, yeah, that’s
right.  Now I remember why this place should be shot to heck.  One word: teh
hovercraft.  Did I spell ‘the’ wrong?  Yep.  I’d believe the hovercraft
deserves that treatment.  Anyway, out of the courses in Sherbert Island, two
feature the hovercraft.  The other two feature the car, and will be the easier
courses of this world. The Boss Race is unfortunately done by way the
hovercraft, so unless you manage to learn how to control that thing quickly,
it’s off to the dog house with you.

Race Name: Whale Bay
Balloons for Entry: Ten/Seventeen for Golden Balloon Challenge
Number of Laps: Three
Number of Competitions: Two, plus a Trophy Race at the end.
Strategy: Below

Regular Race: This is your first race with the hovercraft unless you count
Snowflake Mountain’s finale, and since this is considered one of the easier
hovercraft courses in the game, now would be a good time for you to learn how
to corner and work your way around the turns.  There aren’t many of them
necessarily (which is why people consider this easy compared to later
iterations), but there are one or two that will give you the opportunity to
get some quality practice time in before the next hurrah comes through.

Now that that’s out of the way, as soon as you start the race you’ll see a
zipper on your far right.  Don’t take it this lap, because it basically
requires you to slam through a cloud of other racers that will slow you down
tremendously.  Instead, be wise and go directly for the cove under the falls.
It’s not hard to make out from far away, so begin preparing yourself to sidle
through.  Once you get in the cave, they’ll be an upgrade token on your right
on a sand bar about 50 yards from the entrance.  Take the turns and navigate
your way through the cavern.  It may prove to be tricky if you don’t prepare
to make the turns in advance, but as long as you ride your break, you’ll be
fine.

They’ll be a Blue Balloon about 40 yards away in the middle of the track soon
after, followed by a Red Balloon grouping.  There’s another Blue Balloon in
the mix, but it’s incredibly hard to hit unless you ride your break well into
it before time.  It doesn’t make up for the time, so just blow through and use
your Blue Balloon to ride the sharp curve at the exit.  The next area will
greet you by a wide open area filled with…well…water.  There’s a zipper
located on your right, and after you’ve managed to hit it, I recommend that
you go for the pirate ship directly ahead of you.  There’s a whale near it,
and as you approach it, the whale will raise providing you a clear cut across
the ship.  Make sure to swerve around the hole, because if you don’t, you’ll
wind up screwing the point out of taking this.  There’s a Magnet Balloon on
top of the ship, and if you play your cards right, you can use this to catch
up to anyone who is in front of you.  There’s an upgrade token on your left in
a sand bar as you leave the ship, and after that, it’s a simple shift to the
finish.  There’s a Blue Balloon on another bar, so don’t forget it.

Golden Balloon Challenge: For once, I really managed to get an almost Gold
rating on my first try.  Seriously.  One Golden Balloon off.  If that’s any
indication, you shouldn’t have many problems with this.  There are a couple of
trick spots, but as long as you take your time and spot the Balloons
accurately, you should be able to get many of them with much time to spare.  A
general note is that it’s a good idea to grab them at an angle to your left as
the race starts for the first part of the track, because most, if not all of
them, are located on your left.  There’s a Golden Balloon hidden in the
waterfall to your left that’s easily missed if you don’t pay attention, but if
you’re on an angle as I’ve told you, you shouldn’t have any problems getting
it.  The rest of the Balloons up until the pirate ship are in plain sight and
should be easy to pick up.

Trophy Race: Bah, with the exception of the fact that riding the break is
necessary to keep up with the other racers, you should be able to do this in a
fairly decent manner.  If you don’t get within the top three on this race,
restart.  The rest of Sherbert Island can be patience testing if you don’t.

Final Opinions: Whale Bay is one of those levels that is perfect for practice
but lacking in almost everything else.  It isn’t a very long level, and the
overall difficulty of the level itself is incredibly easy if you can manage
with the hovercraft.  As I said earlier, use this opportunity to get that
practice in.  Mr. Mine Butt won’t be so forgiving.  2/5 (if hovercraft is
learned) 3/5(if not)

Race Name: Crescent Island
Balloons for Entry: Eleven/Eighteen for Golden Balloon Challenge
Number of Laps: Three
Number of Competitions: Two, plus a Trophy Race at the end.
Strategy: Below

Regular Race: Thank God, we’re out of that hovercraft.  It’s off to the easy-
to-control car we go.  Thankfully, this course will be much, much easier then
Whale Bay, and because of that, should be a quick race to complete without any
retries.  Relish this while you have the chance.  …

Well, the first part of the race is simple enough.  Go straight down the hill
and you’ll notice that the track diverges.  While the right side can be a bit
shorter if you can boost through it, it’s strongly recommended that you take
the right side.  There’s a zipper in the middle after you go on for a bit,
plus a Rainbow Balloon and an upgrade token on your left.  It’s technically
longer, but it’s great to catch up to people with.

Once you clear the cave, they’ll be a zipper roughly in the middle right hand
portion of the track.  Prepare yourself to take the turn earlier, because
there’s a bump before it that cuts speed if you hit it at an angle.  After you
take the zipper you’ll notice a grouping of Red and Green Balloons on your
left, plus another grouping of them later on the track on your right.  You can
hit both of them in time for the upgrade, but it’s usually not a great idea to
do so because it requires a huge swerve to get to them, and the extra balloons
can easily be made up within a few seconds.  Coming out of that strip of
straight track, you’ll find a zipper on your left along the wall.  Make sure
to take it this way you can clear yourself for the straight track leading up
to the pirate ship.

There’s a plank leading up to the ship, with Red Balloons sitting on it.
Figures.  If you’ve managed to collect a Red Balloon or two before this, you
should be able to stock the five rocket upgrade.  Once you’re actually on the
ship, they’ll be two routes you can take.  Although it requires you to swerve
more then the top route, make sure to take the bottom portion.  It’s a bigger
opening, and although it is harder to hit than the top, it won’t make you take
the drop that the top route requires.

Ride your beak into the corners as you go to exit the ship and you should see
a wide-open area leading up to a cave.  There’s a zipper located right after
you leave, plus an upgrade token on your right.  Pick it up, and move
forward.  They’ll be a grouping of Red and Rainbow Balloons.  A you should be
out of your rockets by now, but if you’ve kept at least one, you can upgrade
to a homing rocket.  Fun stuff.  Just be careful not to shoot yourself with it.

Upon your entrance to the cave, you should see a zipper on the inside track.
DO NOT TAKE IT.  This may sound weird considering I’ve been yelling at you
take every zipper available in the darn game, but trust me, this is the one
time you’ll want to avoid listening to that little rule.  Why?  Because if you
take the zipper, you’ll overshoot the rock portion where you can take an easy
right and avoid that wide turn.  If you take the zipper, you just screwed
yourself for another 3+ seconds.  Great job.

Golden Balloon Challenge: Some people view this as annoying, unruly, and
unfairly cheap.  I…agree.  I find some of the challenges in here to be tough
to cope with, practically cheap.  But you know, this is what you’ll be having
to deal with.  Unlike some of the beginning stages from the last couple of
worlds, a new feature has been added to the starting line.  Instead of saying
3…2…1…or something like that), it shoots you out in a quicker motion that can
make you miss Golden Balloons if you aren’t careful.  What does that translate
into?  Pain in the royal tuckus. I have reservations about using that other
word.

Right from the get go you’ll be treated to the two pathway treatment.  The
carpet takes the left path, so make sure to hit any and all Golden Balloons
located on the left part of the track before your carpet swerves away.  If you
miss any, you’ll have to turn around slightly when you come out of the
impasse.  You’ll have to anyway to get that final balloon at the exit, but it
makes sense to shorten the time as much as possible considering there’s more
then one Balloon sitting around the next area.  After you’ve cleared the next
area, you’ll be in the vicinity of the pirate ship.  The carpet goes AROUND
it, not INSIDE of it.  So to make a long story short, point down, shoot the
balloons as you see them, and enter the final cave for the finish.  This is
the area where you’ll probably miss a Golden Balloon or to behind the mast of
the ship, so luck be with you.

Trophy Race: Arg…okay, I’m not a pirate.  Crescent Island is an easy course to
pass, mainly because it’s done with the car and several shortcuts can be taken
to speed by.  Not that bad.

Final Opinions: I loved this course in the original, and my love for it hasn’t
diminished one bit.  It’s simple, easy to get to know, and has enough nooks
and crannies to keep things interesting.  It ain’t hard, but it’s fun.  And
you know, that’s why we play games, right?  1.5/5

Race Name: Pirate Lagoon
Balloons for Entry: Thirteen/Twenty for Golden Balloon Challenge
Number of Laps: Three
Number of Competitions: Two, plus a Trophy Race at the end.
Strategy: Below

Regular Race: Well, we’re back to that infernal hovercraft.  I knew my respite
wouldn’t last long.  Crow.  Pirate Lagoon is your genuinely hard course for
this world, and it will prove to be incredibly annoying unless you can be
smart and hit the scattered shortcuts.  You will need to ride your break for
the duration of the race, because to be quite honest, you’ll lose a ton of
speed on the curves.  And believe me, it’s tough to recoup from unless you’re
using a fast accelerator.  Krunch lovers, thou hath met thine damnation.  Too
bad.

Pirate Lagoon starts off with a straight track littered with many sand bars.
There are a grouping of Red and Blue Balloons directly in front of you, but
it’s advisable for you to skip it and skid to your left this way you can pick
up the zipper.  It’s a better boost, and since the Blue Balloons on this level
are incredibly limited, you’re playing with fire.  Make sure to ride your
break past the next curve, because if you don’t, you’ll eat a hideous break in
your speed that will mess with you.  There’s a couple of Green Balloons past
the curve on the outside, plus some Magnet on the inside.  It’s your choice,
judge it by how far you are and if you’re sure you won’t run over it yourself
on a future.  The next part of the track is just a straight race towards the
next cave.  There’s an upgrade token on your far left, and it’s foolish to
think you can that you’d be able to hit it and still make the hole in time.
Once you hit the hole…

You’ll run right into a wall.  It’s a pretty funny trick, but it’s a good idea
to pick up the Blue Balloon sitting pretty right before the drop off.  Why?
Because unless you stop yourself, the wall right there will kindly do you the
favor.  The Blue Balloon will get you back up to regular speeds, which is
needed since the other racers aren’t affected at all by the drop off.  After
you leave the cave, you’ll be in a rocky area that contains a zipper straight
ahead.  Hit it, break hard to make the next curve, and collect either a Red,
Blue, Red, Green Balloon in that order.  Break for the turn, and you should be
on another straight course dotted with sand bars.  You’ll have to dodge the
palm tree located in the middle, but if you ride your break and hit the
zipper, you’ll be able to jump a sizable portion of the turn and collect a
Blue Balloon the boot.  Just a hop skip and a jump till the finish.

Golden Balloon Challenge: This is another one of those fast start courses, and
it hurts.  Right from the start you’ll be bombarded with multiple Golden
Balloons that will require some expert popping skills to get.  After the big
curve, you’ll be in that open area where a large grouping of Balloons will
be.  Most are in plain sight, and since you have a good portion of time in
that area, it shouldn’t be that hard to hit the balloons.  After you enter the
cave you’ll be treated to a fast jump of the carpet, with the Golden Balloons
you’ll be trying to pop right in front of you.  Upon leaving the cave you’ll
be treated to a jagged area filled with Golden Balloons in the crevices.  The
carpet swerves back around once a few seconds pass, so don’t be scared if you
miss a balloon or two.  The rest of the Golden Balloons on the course are
scattered behind palm trees and on the turn.  As you come upon the finish
line, make sure to grab the Golden Balloons in the mesh.

Trophy Race: Heck on steroids.  No joking on that one, either.  The hovercraft
makes this place incredibly tough on regular races, and that doesn’t even
touch the trophy difficulty where most, if not all, of the racers get
substantial upgrades to their machines.  Now would be a great time to start
planning ahead for the next world, so spend your hard earned coins on
upgrading the speed and acceleration statistics if possible.

Final Opinions: Pirate Lagoon is a good indicator of if you’re ready for the
Boss Race.  If you know you can’t make the curves, then you really, really,
really have to practice more.  The Boss Race is only a race away, and since
his course is littered with obstacles, it can be very hard unless you have a
solid skill at turning with the hovercraft.  The race itself is incredibly
annoying due to the constant stops, so it gets the gold star for being the
toughest race in this world.  3.75/5

Race Name: Treasure Caves
Balloons for Entry: Sixteen/Twenty-two for Golden Balloon Challenge
Number of Laps: Three
Number of Competitions: Two, plus a Trophy Race at the end.
Strategy: Below

Regular Race: Well, we’re back to the car.  Enjoy your brief respite before
heck sets in with the boss.  God rest your soul.  Treasure Caves is your
standard race course bunched with a great difficulty.  This is one of those
courses that will require a restart or two, and I can say it right now, you’ll
need it.  Compared to the other car courses, this is king.  Well, almost.  I
still say Frosty Village can be a pain in the royal tuckus.

Treasure caves leads off with a straight track of land leading up with a
slight curve.  There’s a zipper on your right about 50 yards from the starting
line, so try your best to get a good boost so you can hit it with minimal
collisions from other racers.  Once you do take the boost, make sure to curve
in to the inside track.  It’ll cut you into third-fourth place, if you’re
lucky, and put you in prime position to pick up that sweet Blue Balloon.  Why
do I think it’s sweet?  Because with it you can literally bypass the next
downward slope and gain the first place slot going into the cave.  There’s a
zipper located on the ground going at a curve before it, plus a grouping of
Red and Green Balloons.  Pick up whatever you want and continue your march
into the main namesake of the course, Treasure Cave.

A word of warning, though.  As much as you may want to take a swim in the
pleasantly shining green swamp water, refrain from doing so.  It completely
stalls your vehicle, and in a course like this, it’s a fatal mistake.  Stick
to the inside tracks, because that’s where most, if not all, if the zippers
are located going through the cave.  There are multiple attractions for you to
view, such as a pirate ship with a piece of the TT amulet (hint), plus some
more real state.  Get ‘em while they are hot.  The rest of the race is
basically a zipper located on the inside track of the exiting part of the
track, with a small stretch of track before the finish line.

Golden Balloon Challenge: I must have taken about seven tries on my first go
around to get the 40 Golden Balloons needed to advance.  What does that mean?
I don’t know.  Either I was not concentrating or in the most likely scenario,
was annoyed beyond belief.  The course opens up with you having to pop a bunch
of balloons along the side parts of the track, plus more located around the
crags and hills located along the ocean scenery.  There are a couple located
under the bridge, so make sure to grab them on your way through to the next
area.  Once you hit out of the cave, you’ll be upon that large crag of area.
There are multiple balloons to your right, but there are also a couple of them
scattered in the cliff.  Make SURE to hit these before you go around, because
if you don’t, you’ll miss them because the carpet speeds up dramatically and
there are still more of them sitting after that area which you will need to
pick up.

Treasure Cave is next, and this is the part where you’ll be in the most strap
to get the Golden Balloons.  Most of them are hidden within the masts, and
water, and rocks.  So please make sure to have your screen tilted on an angle
to get where you need to get quickly.  I STRONGLY recommend that you take your
time when popping, because the longer you take to pick up a Balloon, the more
you’re cutting your chances of finishing up with everything.  As soon as you
manage to get out of the cave, you’ll see the finish line.  IMMEDIATELY swerve
backwards to hit the Golden Balloons on top of the exit.  You have about three
seconds…so don’t screw up.

Trophy Race: Duh, duh, duh…pain.  This place is a nightmare unless you’re
careful and hit the zippers.  Take the corners, beat people over the head with
rockets, and you should be done with it in good time.  Take your time, haste
makes waste.  The corners can be a bit tricky, so be careful.

Final Opinion: This is probably one of the hardest car courses in the game.
It’s tough, the curves are nice, and the AI difficulty itself is decently
tough to deal with.  I personally love this course because of it, because it’s
a rare sight in this game. 3.5/5

Boss Race
---------

Well, if you’ve made it this far, you’re probably lucky or talented.  I vote
number one.  As I said earlier, either this race can be a heaven sent gift
from above or a literal nightmare filled track of death.  Mr. Octopus himself
isn’t the big problem of this course.  He’s actually a slow poke compared to
his Walrus and Dino brethren, so if you can steer well, you’ll be in a good
position.  The hovercraft can be a nuisance, but as long as you keep your cool
and work on making the turns correctly, you will win.  Keep thinking that.  I </pre><pre id="faqspan-3">
will win.  I will win.  You won’t win.  You won’t win.  Oops.

Race Name: Mr. Octopus Boss Race
Balloons for Entry: Complete All Regular Races in Sherbert Island/Complete all
Golden Balloon Challenges in Sherbert Island
Number of Laps: Three
Number of Competitions: Two, plus a special touch challenge at the end.
Strategy: Below

First Race: Well, two things to note before we get to the actual race.  One,
it’s a three lap Boss Race.  It will be much longer then anything you’ve
already gone through, and it will get progressively harder as the laps go by,
but think of it as a safety net if you mess up.  He’s not the fastest boss
that you’ve faced, so as long as you keep going at a good clip and nail him
with a couple of rockets (he’s a big target, trust me.  That red stands out a
mile away…), you’ll be fine.

The race starts with a short, straight area that gives you the opportunity to
gain some ground on him.  Make sure to ride your break past the curve, and
head into the cave.  Grab the Red Balloons scattered around, but resist the
urge to nail him until you upgrade to the five rocket item.  It will give you
five shots, and since he is pretty big, that’ll be all you’ll need to slow him
down.  Just make sure not to shoot him when you are directly BEHIND him.  He
will spin out, crush you when you smack into him, and jump out ahead of you
again and partially gain even more ground than before.  Is it lunacy to think
you can avoid him?  Depends on the distance.  If you’re a couple of yards
away, don’t do it.  If you have a good amount of room, nail him in his
tuckus.  He gives you a couple of opportunities in the cave where he’ll slowly
jut out to the right.  That’s your queue to shoot him dead.  He’ll skid out to
the right more, and give you the opportunity to gain a bunch of ground.

The next area goes into a curve that you’ll have to ride the sand bar on.
Why?  Because throughout the race Mr. Octopus will shoot mines out of his butt
that will knock you incredibly high into the air.  These CANNOT hit you,
because it will practically take any chances of you winning way out of the
race.  If you can stay ahead of him, you’ll be fine for the first lap or two.
By the third lap, he’ll be placing them in areas that will be incredibly hard
to dodge in thanks to the controls on the hovercraft.  God be with your soul
if you get hit.

Anyway, once you’ve taken the sand bar around, you’ll be in another cave.  If
he’s ahead of you, waste away your remaining ammo on him.  There are roughly
two-three Red Balloons on the final stretch of the track, and if you can pick
them up, you’ll be refilled.  Only do this on your first two laps.  The last
lap will be too dangerous to swerve.

Second Race: He’s faster, and he’s got a new weapon up his sleeve: fart
bubbles.  And no, this isn’t another one of my horrific jokes that are
pathetic, it’s true.  He really shoots bubbles out of his butt.  These bubbles
can be extremely hard to dodge, and if they catch you, they’ll hold you in the
air for several seconds before they let you go.  That’s your queue to restart
if you do get caught.  There are one or two “Choke” points as I like to call
them where you’ll wind up being stuck in a short span of both mines and
bubbles.  Please be wise and dodge these at all costs.  You can’t afford to
mess up here.

Coin Challenge: Much like the one in Snowflake Mountain, this coin challenge
will make you do simple tasks.  Not much to say, destroy anything in your path
and you should be fine.

Final Opinions: A tough race if you can’t get yourself accustomed to the
hovercraft.  Practice making turns in it if you’re having a hard time, or
possibly go into free play and try out courses that rely on it.  If you can
fine tune it, then you should be able to dodge anything he can throw and
overtake him quickly.  Luck.  That’s all it takes.  Don’t mind skill.  Or
patience.  Or a new DS after throwing yours out the window.  4.5/5

Interlude
---------

Well, congratulations.  You’ve officially conquered one of the toughest worlds
in the game.  There’s only one more world to go, then we get to make Wizzy
into Bacon.  I’ve already get my oven set on charbroil.  Our next stop takes
us to Dragon Forest, a location set in the middle ages that will test your
general skill with every vehicle in the game.  The courses will be tough, but
in a game like this, that’s not saying much.  So strap on your armor, it’s
dragon slaying time.

Taj Race Four
-------------

But before we can do that, we have to go through yet another one of tar butt’s
challenges.  This one will be a bit simpler than the others, mainly because
instead of racing against someone, your task is to blow out the touches keenly
scattered across the island.  How do you do this?  By throwing your DS off the
top of a tall building and letting the wind whoosh into the microphone.  …  In
case you want to know how it’s really done, all you have to do is blow into
the mic when you’re near a torch.  There are approximately two areas of
torches that you’ll have to venture to, and you have 60 seconds to blow them
all out.  Oh, and before I forget.  This is done in the hovercraft.  Fun.

Race Name: Taj Race Torch Challenge
Balloons for Entry: Automatically after completing Sherbert Island
Number of Laps: Three
Number of Competitions: Unlimited, although only one Golden Balloon can be
collected.
Strategy: Well, there’s an arrow on the top of your screen that will direct
you to where the torches are, but if you’re smart, you avoid following it and
head straight for the are where Dragon Forest is located.  There should be a
hallway outside the door filled with the torches.  The hovercraft has a
tendency to skid, so if you can skid around to each torch and blow as you pass
each torch.  Make sure this hallway is done by the time your timer hits 35
seconds.  After you’ve cleared that hallway, head to the underground cavern
which leads up to the river underneath Snowflake Mountain.  It can be found in
the waterfall closest to the right of Dino Domain if I remember correctly.
It’s done on a moving river, so simple blow as the current takes you.  I had
15 seconds left by the time I was finished blowing.

Taj Race Five
-------------

So now we’re finally ready to go into Dragon Forest…WHAT?!  Looks like tar
butt has yet another challenge for us.  This is thankfully the last Taj
challenge in the game, so breathe easily once you’re done with it.  We’ve been
through four others, so this one should be a drop in the bucket, right?
Wrong.  Looks as though the developers thought it funny to torment us by
putting Taj on steroids and making him challenge us to a race to collect
coins.  In lamens terms, first to ten coins is the winner.  A Golden Balloon
is at stake, so get that game face on.  It’s time to take out the trash.

Race Name: Taj Race Five
Balloons for Entry: Complete previous Taj race and finish any outstanding
Golden Balloon collecting.  If you’ve been following this guide, it should be
automatic.
Number of Laps: NA
Number of Competitions: One
Strategy: Well, the whole island is fair game for this challenge, and since
it’s a competition to see who can collect ten coins first, this can lag.  Big
time.  The race is done in the plane, meaning any perch is fair game for a
coin to appear on (they’ll be one coin at a time up for grabs – once it’s
collected, another will appear.  So on, so forth).  They’ll be an arrow at the
top of your screen that can point you in the right direction, plus a map to
help you scout out the island.  Don’t think it’ll be easy, however.  Taj knows
where each and every coin is when it appears, so it’s basically a race to see
who can get to it first.  Only problem is you don’t know where it is exactly
hidden.  So it’s like the known leading the blind.  Just great.

So how do you win something like this?  You have about a small two second slot
where Taj will stall when he’s turning around.  That’ll be the amount of time
you’ll have to search for the coin before he starts up and heads for it.
Since you are faster then him, some people like to trail behind him and when
the coin comes into view, grab it.  It’s risky, though, and since often times
Taj will be of a similar coin amount, you could be in big trouble.  In the
first time I took the challenge, he beat me 10-3.  Second time I reversed
that.  For some reason or another, if you lose the challenge, it’ll be
easier.  As long as you take sharp turns with the right hand shoulder button,
you’ll be fine.

Interlude
---------

As soon as you collect the Golden Balloon from Taj, he’ll keel over and die…I
wish.  Take pride in the fact that you’ll never have to deal with this
Elephant again.  Well, almost.  You get the picture.  So with two shiny new
Golden Balloons now in our possession, it’s time to head to the den of
dragons, Dragon Forest.  It may have been a long diversion, but hey, I’m not
complaining.  Too much.

Section D: Dragon Forest
------------------------

Well, you’ve made it.  If you’ve been following this guide to a tee, this is
your first entrance to this medieval wonderland.  You’ve passed the door to
get into it several times now, but if you are drawing a blank as to where it
is for some reason, simply either take the cave outside of the lighthouse and
go down the hall of torches, or just go into the waterfall near the river.  It
takes sixteen Golden Balloons for entrance, but by this time, you’re close to
doubling that.  Now aren’t you happy?

Race Name: Windmill Plains
Balloons for Entry: NA (every Balloon count in this world will be skipped,
mainly because in all of my files I was never smart enough to pick up the
Golden Balloon counts.  Stupidity at its finest.
Number of Laps: Three
Number of Competitions: Two, plus a Trophy Race at the end.
Strategy: Below

Regular Race: Windmill Plains is your first race in Dragon Forest, and will
provide you with a good indicator of what’s to come.  It’s a decently tough
race, but as long as you focus on cornering and hitting the zippers as you go
along, you should be fine.  This race will be done with the plane, and will
take approximately 2:30-3:00 to complete on a decent run.

Windmill Planes starts off by introducing you to a straight track littered
with the course’s name sake – Windmills.  There’s a zipper located underneath
one of them, and you’ll need to curve slightly down in order to hit it.  It is
on the bottom part of the ground, so make sure to skim this way you don’t land
and kill the speed you’ve built up from the initial boost.  There are Balloons
located straight ahead, groupings of Red and Blue, plus some other Balloons
located underneath the Windmills.  As you clear that first section of the
track, you should come out to a wide open space.  It’ll have a zipper
suspended in the sky, so make sure to curve away for it this way you can get
ahead of the main pack.  Most, if not all, of the racers now have upgrades to
their vehicles that will allow them to out speed you fairly easily, so make
sure to race smart and PLAY THE DARN CURVES.

They’ll a zipper in the cave once you hit it, plus some other Balloons
scattered about.  Most of the Balloons scattered in this course are primarily
Green and Blue, plus a fair amount of red, so keep that in mind.  If you’re
smart, you’ll get Green Balloons and put them at choke points in the course.
Instead of the usual puddle, it releases a cloud of smoke that will knock you
down for several seconds, meaning that you’ll be able to stall the nearest
person to you.

After you’ve cleared the cave, you should be to an area that features a lone
Windmill.  There should be a zipper underneath it, and once you take it you’ll
be in a wide open area of the track that has a zipper located in the middle of
it.  Make sure to curve inside of the track, because it will allow you to cut
off a sizable portion that most, if not all, of the other racers will
undoubtedly take.  What does it mean?  Free lead.  Be a good boy and take it.
Upon getting past that big open area, you should be in a canyon like valley.
There are Red and Blue Balloons scattered about, so make sure to grab them
depending on the situation.  I recommend that you personally go for the Blue
ones, because any distance you can put between yourself and your opponents
will be a big help.  As soon as you clear the canyon, you’ll be in a big open
area.  There’s a zipper on your left located directly on the ground, plus
another in the air.  There’s a cave straight ahead, so boost towards it.

The cave itself contains a decently sharp upward turn that can mess you up,
but as long as you be wise and look at it before time, you should be fine.
The rest of the race is a peace of cake, just be careful with cornering.

Golden Balloon Challenge: The Golden Balloons are everywhere, and this can
easily be an annoying challenge if you’re going for all of them.  If not, then
you should be able to pick up more then enough in the time you have.  What
makes this race so hard isn’t necessarily the speed or possibly the turns the
carpet takes, but rather the placement of the Golden Balloons.  More often
than not they are scattered in some of the weirdest, hardest to get places
possible, and if you aren’t careful, you can wind up screwing up and missing
the Balloons necessary to keep on going for a perfect score.  I won’t go into
heavy details, but some of the trickiest Golden Balloons to get are located in
the last big chasm where you were told to skip by earlier.  The carpet does a
major swerve in it, and if you aren’t careful, your screen will wind up
messing up and forcing you to rapidly turn it around in an attempt to get the
Golden Balloons necessary.

Other then that, there are a couple scattered between the windmills, and it’ll
be your job to grab as many as possible if you wish to pass.  Just be careful
of the ones hidden behind and inside the haystacks – they’re really easy to
miss if you aren’t paying attention.

Trophy Race: This place can be made easy if you follow the corners and use
that cut off that I talked about earlier.  Grab the Blue boost Balloons to cut
time as your passing corners, and play nasty with the Green Balloons.  This
place gives plenty of choke points for you to take advantage of and be nasty
with.  Good luck, although you probably won’t need it.  Unless you’re a two
year old.  At that point, you probably would need it.  But who would let a two
year old play a DS?  Parents.  Just shows what the parenting has come to these
days.

Final Opinions: This is by far and away the easiest course in Dragon Forest.
The plane is an easy vehicle to ride in, and with a couple of upgrades, you
should be able to ace this place without many problems at all.  The racers can
be a bit nasty if you aren’t careful, and watch out for potential choke
points, but still, you should be fine.  2/5

Race Name: Greenwood Village
Balloons for Entry: NA (every Balloon count in this world will be skipped,
mainly because in all of my files I was never smart enough to pick up the
Golden Balloon counts.  Stupidity at its finest.
Number of Laps: Three
Number of Competitions: Two, plus a Trophy Race at the end.
Strategy: Below

Regular Race: Ah, back to the car.  I missed this vehicle.  Although the
controls will be easier to cope with in this course, don’t expect an easy
time.  There are several tough points to race through, and to tell you the
truth, the racers are starting to get smarter.  That still ain’t saying much,
though, but you get the picture.

Greenwood Village starts off by introducing players to a small portion of
straight track.  There are several balloons up ahead, mainly of the Green and
Rainbow variety.  Pick up a Green Balloon and get ready to use it shortly.
There’s a curve coming up that you have to take short if you want to hit the
zipper, but when you’re making the turn, plop down the Green Balloon.  At
first it may seem like a waste, but since so many other racers will be taking
that curve, it’s a perfect choke point.  Don’t pass it up, you want to put at
least a little bit of distance between yourself and your opponents when you go
for the next jump.

Now, instead of doing what every other racer will do and head to the right,
keep going straight ahead.  It may sound stupid, brash, and going against
everything I’ve ever bothered to tell you about, but trust me – there’s a
secret passage underneath that water main.  When you’re approaching it, you’ll
see a small opening.  You’ll have to break to enter it, because it’s
horrifically easy to overshoot (God forbid that you do overshoot it, you’ll
have to either back up and waste even more time, or go the regular way
around.  Whenever I overshoot it, I normally just head the normal way.  Having
to back up and go back in can be annoying, because you have to head around the
whole darn main again.  If you do make it into the secret passage, you’ll come
to a short stretch of track that has a zipper inside.  Take the zipper and
it’ll shoot you out onto the regular track, hopefully ahead of the other
racers.  It cuts off an incredibly large stretch of track, so you should have
a small lead.

The next area introduces you to a new breed up track, a bumpy area that can be
hard to turn in.  Make sure to streak in it, take the inside track, and hope
you don’t get shot at some point or another.  Once you clear it, and after you
go on for a bit, you should be to a semi-open cave.  If you take the inside
track, you should come to a zipper once you curve outside.  Take it, boost
ahead, and streak towards a small open area.  You have the option to go left
for a longer route (but a nice surprise), or straight for a quicker
alternative.  I’ll say it now – in order to stay ahead, you’ll have to take
the straight route.  The left route is hard to recover from, and has the
propensity to screw you over if you can’t make the turn in enough of time.

At any rate, the final portion of the track has you going through yet another
cave, but this time instead of a straight track outside of it, you’ll have to
make an incredibly sharp turn.  Best place in the game to lay down a trap.  No
joking.  Everyone will either have to bank out to get away from an inside
track trap, and it will force them to hit the wall and mess their speed up
royally.  If you have to dodge it, good luck.  Nine times out of ten you’ll
fail.  The rest of the track is just a simple curvature that requires you to
speed around a short turn or two.  There’s a zipper on your left before the
finish line.

Golden Balloon Challenge: This is another one of those fast start challenges
that really serves no meaning other than to annoy you.  It’s not that hard of
a course, and most, if not all, of the Golden Balloons are finally in plain
site.  Just MAKE SURE to poke around the tops of the trees in the forest to
look for those strings.  There are a couple of Golden Balloons hidden on the
walls and in the sky, but as I said earlier, most, if not all, are in plain
site.

Trophy Race: If you screw up here, you’ll have to do a bit of catch up in the
coming courses.  I can’t stress this enough – if you know you can’t make the
secret passage, don’t do it.  It can put you so far behind that you’ll be in a
loosing situation.  There are several good choke points as I mentioned
earlier, and you have multiple chances to put some serious distance between
you and your opponents.  Just take it easy, the worst thing you can do in a
course like this is panic.  The turns can be horrendous if you start getting
frustrated, so if you do feel like you’re in a bad situation, cool off.  And
eat chicken.

Final Opinion: Greenwood Village is a decently hard course that will test your
ability to make fast curves.  I suggest you really start buying any and all
upgrades possible, because not only will the car be extremely important in
future races, but it will serve as the finishing vehicle in the last race of
this world.  As another tip, it’s also a very good idea to start investing in
the plane.  The Boss Race of this world makes use of it, and without some
serious upgrades you could be in some trouble once you get to the final
world.  3/5

Race Name: Boulder Canyon
Balloons for Entry: NA (every Balloon count in this world will be skipped,
mainly because in all of my files I was never smart enough to pick up the
Golden Balloon counts.  Stupidity at its finest.
Number of Laps: Three
Number of Competitions: Two, plus a Trophy Race at the end.
Strategy: Below

Regular Race: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO……………well, it was good while it lasted.
After escaping the wrath of the hovercraft for two races…it’s back.  And it’s
here to make your life miserable.  Just kidding…unlike other the hovercraft
races that the game has offered thus far, this one does a great job of
converting the awful controls to something that’s actually doable.  How does
it do that?  Aside from a few, secluded turns that will drive you up a wall,
this course primarily takes place on a wide open river, one that uses the
current to drag you along.  With small boosts from your engine, you’ll easily
be able to navigate and get past any control issues.  Almost.  There are still
obstacles in the water that you’ll have to avoid, but with some practice, this
race will turn out to be one of the best in the game, and my personal favorite.

After you’re done doing the customary spitting exercise on your DS to get that
mini boost at the beginning, Boulder Canyon begins on a wide open river that
has some secluded logs floating along.  Ride your break to steer around them,
while primarily using the river to maneuver your boat downstream.  It’ll make
dodging the planks easier, and you’ll be able to get ahead quickly.  After
going on for some time you should be to a gigantic waterfall-like downhill
rush.  There’s a Blue Balloon on the right side, plus a Red Balloon for your
taking.  Take the Blue Balloon, you’ll be using it soon enough to get back on
track.

After you’ve cleared that downstream portion, you should be to a river basin
at the bottom.  There’s a stretch of land that heads up, so that’ll be where
we are headed next.  If your hovercraft starts to waver a little and you lose
speed, use your Blue Balloon to recover from the turn and speed up again.  The
next portion needs you to be adequately ahead of the other racers if you wish
to take advantage of your surroundings.  After making another semi sharp turn,
you’ll see a large bridge.  On the other side is a bell, and if you hit the
bell, you’ll be able to raise the bridge and strand every other racer that’s
behind you on the other side.  They’ll then have to leap off, drive around the
river, and come up on one of the conveniently placed bridges.  Let’s put it
like this – they’re screwed for about five extra seconds.  In a race like
this, that’s gold.  Before you actually race this course, though, you may want
to raise the bridge and climb it to the top for the key.  Yep, it’s up there.
Bet you didn’t know that, now didn’t you.

Getting back to the race, you’ll now be in a semi-large castle that will
require you to make a pretty sharp turn.  There’s a booster in the middle of
the track before it, so make sure to take it and ride your break around to the
next one conveniently also located on the middle of that track.  You should
now be in a hall leading up to a river inside of the castle.  Take it, and
ride it’s current to a diverging section of two halls.  Be sure to take the
left one.  It’s much shorter, and will lead you into an area where you don’t
have to make that hard of a turn.  Once you hit the river again, all you have
to do is follow the river to the end.  There’s a zipper located on your far
right, plus a Blue Balloon before the finish line.

Golden Balloon Challenge: This challenge, unlike some others, can be a royal
pain in the tuckus.  Balloons are scattered in some extremely hard places to
reach, and if you aren’t careful, you can very easily miss several of them in
not much time at all.  It’d be a WISE idea to put your screen at an angle,
because if you don’t do it, you’ll be pressed to pick up the Golden Balloons
hanging out in some of the places, such as the castle rafters.  There’s a
Golden Balloon grouping scattered near the drawbridge top part, so be sure to
look up, while there are more hidden in the river castle area.  Make sure to
look around that big open area, there are several hidden in the moat
surrounding the castle, and even more once you get inside.

Trophy Race: Yet another hard course made easy by some great steering.  I
don’t have that much to say on this, other then that you should be careful
with how you steer and use the bridge.  I actually once was forced to go
around the moat, simply because an evil AI controlled racer raised the bridge
on me.  And I thought the AI was dumb.

Final Opinion: My unopposed favorite course in the game.  This is one of the
few places that truly does the hovercraft justice, and for that, it has my
regards.  3/5

Race Name: Haunted Woods
Balloons for Entry: NA (every Balloon count in this world will be skipped,
mainly because in all of my files I was never smart enough to pick up the
Golden Balloon counts.  Stupidity at its finest.
Number of Laps: Three
Number of Competitions: Two, plus a Trophy Race at the end.
Strategy: Below

Regular Race: Haunted Woods is another course done in the car, so you’d think
it would be easy.  Not so fast.  Not only does this course tie for one of the
hardest in the game, but it’s also probably one of the trickiest to stay ahead
in.  Not only are there some sharp turns to worry about, but unless you know
where the zippers are, you really will be in genuine trouble.  Rarity.  You’d
think the AI would pose nil challenge.  But they find a way to.

Haunted Woods opens up with a short sharp turn that can turn into a debacle
unless you get a good boost or hang back.  It’s obviously better to get the
boost so that you could actually win, but when you think of everyone getting
clogged in that small turn…you’ll see my point.  After that turn, things get
somewhat wider.  You’re instantaneously greeted by a large fountain, with two
branching pathways.  You’ll want to take the left one, because although it
doesn’t have a nifty Balloon to greet you with, it’s shorter and requires a
less strenuous turn to pass.  After you’re inside the track, you’ll come up to
a long hallway filled with a couple of zippers.  You’ll spot one on your left,
and further down the track, towards the end where the track merges with your
next area.

You should be up to a short area of track now leading up to a bumpy area.
This area won’t be easy to traverse, and it’s incredibly easy to screw up and
lose a bunch of speed when you’re going down the wooded area.  Make sure to
try to stay along the inside, because although it can be a bit perilous to
take, it’ll be a godsend since there aren’t *as* many bumps to deal with.  Be
careful not to get shot in here, you’re practically an open target for anyone
passing by.

As soon as you’re done with the wooded area, you should be to yet another area
with a zipper or two laying around.  Make sure to stay to the sides to catch
them, and then you should be to a short hallway with chains hanging down from
them.  Do not hit the chains.  They kill speed, and will make your life
miserable.  There’s a final zipper right before the finish line, but be
careful when boosting – there’s a turn before the actual line.

Golden Balloon Challenge: It’s done?!.  Hallelujah.  Honestly.  It’s been many
a Golden Balloon Challenge since we started this walkthrough, and I can
thankfully finally say it’s just about done.  Enjoy this respite.  The final
Golden Balloon Challenge that I will be covering is not only one of the
hardest, but also one of the most well crafted.  Balloons appear in some
wickedly hard places that can easily be well out of your reach, and if you
aren’t careful, you’ll flunk this one with flying colors.  How do you avoid
that?  Do what I’ve been telling you all along.  If you’ve been following my
advice and using that special little technique of keeping your screen at an
angle, you will have little, if any, problems at all.  Most of the Golden
Balloons can be entirely hit on any angle if your screen is positioned
correctly, with the ones out of plain view seeable.

The level opens up with you going around that fountain.  If your screen is at
an angle, you should be able to pick up the lot of them before having to shift
to the other side.  If you do this quickly, you’ll be able to come out of this
with few problems.  The rest of the level basically features Golden Balloons
hung up in the rafters, with the final place where the chains are the most
irritating of the bunch.  Do NOT hit the chains.  Be precise with the Balloons.

Trophy Race: Still hard, enjoy it.  It’ll be the last one you do.  Make sure
to hit the corners, and be smart.  Zippers always helps.

Final Opinions: This is you genuine hard course.  Future Fun Land is almost
here, and although I won’t personally be counting that in the regular game,
this will be a good testing pole to see if you have the mettle to finish it.
Good luck.  4/5

Boss Race
---------

Well, here it is.  This is the race we’ve all be waiting for.  The race where
you finally get to finish off Dragon Forest and gain the last piece of that
swine’s amulet.  The Boss is, adequately enough, a dragon.  It’s a fun course
that you’ll be racing on, and while it can get a bit tricky, you’ll be fine as
long as you follow everything I’ve told you so far.  This race is done with a
plane, and will last for three laps.  The dragon itself isn’t extremely fast,
although his course can be a hazard if you aren’t careful.  Upgrading your
plane makes this course a joke depending on the level of upgrade.

Race Name: Boss Race Four
Balloons for Entry: Finish all regular races in Dragon Forest/Complete all
Golden Balloon Challenges in Dragon Forest.  Same old thing I’ve been telling
your god knows how long now.
Number of Laps: Three
Number of Competitions: Two, plus a Trophy Race at the end.
Strategy: Below

First Race: Dragon boy seems to love to take the inside track of his courses,
and because of that, you better either be ready to pelt his fat hide with
rockets or be sure to dodge around his tricks and traps.  He’s a big target,
but since he bobs and weaves so much around the course, you may have a tough
time.  A word of caution – unlike other bosses who slow down for a good period
of time, he gets going fast.  You’ll be going through a ton of rockets, so
make sure to stick to the five rocket packs and pelt him as much as possible.
You want to be ahead of him.  If for some reason he manages to get ahead of
you, he’ll let out a trail of fire balls that you’ll have to dodge.  It’s not
as hard as, say, the traps that Mr. Octopus laid down back in Sherbert Island,
but unlike the hovercraft, the plane crashes when you get hit, taking you
longer to get going.  He’s not the fastest racer in the world, but since he
takes the inside tracks…he could put a good bit of distance between you and
him rather quickly.

My first big tip for this race is to stay as near to the ground as possible
without actually touching it.  Skim, if you will.  Reason being is that unlike
other plane levels which penalize you for doing that (zippers being in the
air, etc.), this one contains very little, if any zippers at all.  Doing this
will keep you out of his immediate range when it comes to fireballs.  It’s
slower, and can be tedious, but it ensures you won’t screw up royally.  You
can take your chances in the air, but hey.  That’s up to you.  I’d much rather
be out of harms way and be able to make the turns easily then stay in the air
and make myself a target.

Second Race: He’s faster now…plus he lays down many more fireballs then he
previous did.  What does that translate into?  Roast monkey.  Seriously, if
you follow the strategy for the first race, you’ll be fine.  Every fireball
can be dodged if you stay close to the ground, and while you will have to be
in the air at some times to keep up with him, this still makes more then up
for it.  If you get hit, you’re finished.  Nail him in his tuckus with
rockets, and you should come out the victor.  Hopefully.

Touch Challenge: Read strategy for Dino Domain.

Interlude
---------

Well, you’ve defied all odds and finally have managed to collect every single
last piece of the Wizpig amulet.  I salute you, not because it was some insane
task that few can do (quite the contrary, this was incredibly easy.  The fact
that you’ve had this big of a guide to help you out of every jam gives no
excuse), but because you’ve managed to put up with my rambling for the past I
don’t know how many KB.  It’s been a long guide, but the end is in sight.
It’s time to get some revenge on our little piggy.  It’s time to reclaim our
island. It’s time to turn Wizpig into bacon.  Monkey style.

Final Boss Race
---------------

Well, it’s here.  The final boss.  Although some people don’t view this as the
true final boss, I do.  Future Fun Land has to be unlocked by beating all of
the trophy races, and because of that, doesn’t really fit into the category of
main game.  It should be unlocked anyway if you’ve been following my guide,
but meh.  If you don’t know where the race will be taking place, then shut
your game off now.  Kidding.  Remember that big statue of Wizzy in the rock
located in the main center of the over world?  It’s open now.  The mouth is
open…and you go in.  It’s here.  The moment of truth.  Buy any and all car
upgrades you can, with a primary focus on acceleration and speed.  Both go
hand in hand, and trust me, you’ll need them.  Good luck.

Race Name: Final Boss Race
Balloons for Entry: Complete every world in the game and collect the four
pieces of the Wizpig amulet.  Fly into the pig skull and you’re there.
Number of Laps: Three
Number of Competitions: Two, plus a Trophy Race at the end.
Strategy: The first thing you’ll notice with this is that Wizzy jumps out
ahead of you right at the start.  I told you he was a darn cheater.  To
counteract this you’ll have to get a number three boost with the car.  If you
don’t, restart.  It’s really not worth it to keep racing if he gets ahead of
you early.  He will keep the lead if he does, and getting him to relinquish it
is rather hard unless you can nail him several times with rockets.  He’s a big
target that doesn’t move around that much, but meh.

The course opens up with a semi-short piece of straight track leading up to a
bridge.  You have to stay ahead of him here.  You cannot afford for him to be
ahead of you on that jump.  It gets nasty if he is.  As you’re going along the
bridge, you should see two zippers on either side of the exit.  Do not take
them.  Although you’ll need to get every other zipper in the race, these can
screw you up and throw you directly into the water, which is basically a game
over since he’ll be far and way from you by the time you get out.  If you lose
sight of him, it’s basically a lost cause.

As soon as you’re back onto land, you’ll be on a narrow pathway.  Make sure
not to fall off, and don’t let Wizzy trample you.  It flattens you, which will
give him the ability to amass a decently large lead fairly quickly.  Another
thing that I’d like to mention here is the fact that Wizpig is capable of
making very long jumps.  You wouldn’t be surprised if he made the Olympics.
Because of that, he will be able to catch up to you in several points of the
race UNLESS you followed my advice and picked up an acceleration upgrade for
your car.  If you did, you’ll be able to recover from the water and jumps that
you’ll be making.

Anyway, after you go along for a little while, you should be up to a small
stretch of dry land surrounded by water.  You’ll notice that the water
penetrates the track.  In order to make it across, you’ll have to hit the
zipper and hold up on your racer.  Doing this should allow you to clear most
of the jumps, but the final one before the track starts again is a
whole ‘nother beast.  There’s a sizable gap between that and the next part of
the track, and if you aren’t careful, you will stall your car for several
seconds and possible mess up your race.  I can’t tell you how many races I
lost in the third lap because of this.  Make sure to hit it at an angle, and
if you don’t hit the zipper, you’re finished.  I like to point the closest
towards land, with my wheels pointing towards the right and my car slightly
tilted up.  You should be able to clear it if you’re lucky, and continue on
with the race.

The rest is just a simple hop skip and a jump, the real challenge comes when
Wizzy gets far ahead of you.  A basic rule is this – if he’s not in sight,
restart.  Unless you’re sure a couple of rockets will close the gap, it’s not
worth it to keep going.  I find that more often then not I screw up and waste
a bunch of time because I have a false hope of winning.  It don’t work like
that, and I had to learn that the hard way.  Don’t make my mistakes, that’s
why you’re reading this faq.  This race primarily resides on luck, and if
you’re lucky, you’ll make it and win the day.

Section Six: Conclusion
-----------------------

Well, congratulations.  You’ve beaten the game.  It’s been a long road, and
although I’m not covering the final territory, you’ve done a good job.  To get
to FFL, you’ll have to beat every trophy race in the game.  If you’ve been
following my guide, you should have done that.

Getting through this guide has been a big challenge, and I thank Jesus every
day for giving me the strength.  He is my Lord and Savoir, and it’s only
through Him that I can go on every day.  If you don’t know him, please
consider.  It’s the best choice you’ll ever make.

Thank you for reading my guide, any suggestions are welcome.  You can PM me at
http://forums.nintendo.com.  Look under Kratos215, and you send me a PM.
Thanks!


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